All I Want For Christmas Is You
by WhipOfLightHeartOfSword
Summary: Before their last battle, Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together openly one day. Four years later Wufei's still grieving his lost love, not knowing that Treize survived but thought Wufei was over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?
1. Part 1

**All I Want For Christmas Is You**

***Author*****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Rating*****:** PG-13 (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)

***Disclaimer*****:** I am not the owner of Gundam Wing, only the story premise of this particular fanfic. This is a not-for-profit fanwork done by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans, nothing more.

***Warnings*****:** Yaoi (gay romance)

***Pairings*****:** Treize/Wufei (main), Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

***Timeline*****:** The little blurb at the beginning takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So, I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I forget everyone's age in cannon when the series ended. I know they were 15 at the start of Operation Meteor, but I totally don't remember how long the war lasted. I seem to recall something that they were stil 15… O_o? Too young for my purposes, so I simply decided that it made sense for the war to take a few years (more logical to me considering its scale than this idea that the whole thing ended in 12 months). Thus in this fic the pilots were 19 at the war's conclusion, which puts them all at 23 at the start of the story. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.

***Feedback*****:** Yes please, but no flames. If you don't like the story go find something you do like rather than wasting the time writing something I'm only going to ignore. Constructive criticism however, is welcome, and I'm always open to it.

***Summary*****: **They were enemies on the battlefield, and spent their time basking in newfound love when no one was looking. Before the war's end Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together, should both survive its conclusion. Then came the fateful battle where Treize was killed by Wufei's hand. Four years later Wufei's still grieving, not knowing that Treize never died. Miraculously he survived, but has remained hidden, not willing to face the pilot only to find Wufei's over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?

**A/N****:** This was begun Christmas Day 2006 and finished sometime around New Years. I thought it silly to post it then, considering it still had considerable editing needed and people would be well out of the Christmas mood by the time it was ready for posting. I did start posting in on AFF a year later, but never got around to getting it up on FFnet. This was my first Gundam Wing fic, and I'm so pleased with how it's turned out.

This was inspired by the song "All I Want For Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. Due to FFnet's aversion to putting song lyrics in fics (even as quotes), I've neglected to put them in. Which actually works out considering the majority of this fic is far more angsty than that song is, lol!

***UPDATE***

**Okay, total apologies to everyone who's been reading this fic. I have no good excuse for why it's been a couple of years and the updates never came. I mean, maybe because this fic has been posted in completion on another site… I forgot… Who knows? (Not me, at least.) I should have had the presence of mind to finish posting it during Christmas this year, but I'm in Japan at the moment which is not a country that really celebrates Christmas, so my holiday was decidedly… odd, and hardly felt much like a holiday. Actually it was a bit sad whenever I thought about the fun I was missing out on back home. Anyway. Better late than never, ne? So, I'm going to do exactly what I said I'd do back when this was first posted and break it back into its chapters, rather than have several chapters thrown at you all in one shot. Chapters 1-4 then, are what's already been posted for the past couple of years. Chapter 5 is where you should navigate to if you're looking for new content, and also the review responses for the parts originally posted together as chapter 1. **

**Also, minor changes have been made since I finally sat down and watched the ep where Treize dies, rather than depending on friends who somehow forgot how he died and gave me incorrect spoilers *shakes head*. I cried, but in some strange twist of fate Wufei killing him actually works to make this fic more believable. I don't know about you guys, but if I killed the person I loved I'd be a hell of a lot less likely to get over it and move on too, ne? **

_**~*~Part 1~*~**_

_He was warm…and safe. Strong arms tightened their hold on him, and as he let himself melt a little into the form he leaned against, he felt as if he could almost forget there was a war, or that the next mission could be his last, or that he could wake up tomorrow to hear that the person who had slowly become more important to him than anything had been taken from him and turned into just another casualty. One of many._

_He closed his eyes tightly against such thoughts, not wanting to let his mind go there, but unwilling to delude himself either._

_"I have to go," he whispered, hating the words, and hating even more that once again he was faced with the only certainty their relationship had._

_They could very well never meet again._

_"I don't want you to," the one holding him murmured, resting their cheek atop his head._

_"I must. I have to report, and if I don't get back soon enough people will get suspicious," he sighed. "They can't find out about us, Treize."_

_"I know," Treize Kushrenada, the one who was supposed to be up there on his list of people who were of top priority to kill, reached up a hand to stroke his hair for a moment, toying with the short tail at the nape of his neck before he released his hold. He pulled back and stared into the onyx eyes of the young man who'd captured his heart. Who'd brought light and joy to his battered mind and soul every time he laid eyes on him._

_The young man who'd started out as his enemy, but in the years since had become to him so much more._

_"Wufei? Before you go, I need to ask you something, and I want an honest answer."_

_"Then ask," he answered._

_Treize took a moment to gaze at his secret love, the one he had to hide from the world. His dragon. The one that no one knew about, except as his enemy on the field of battle. Forcing himself to remember that said dragon had to leave, he went ahead with his question._

_"I love you, Wufei. I know that's a somewhat strong sentiment all things considered. But I think it's the most accurate way to describe how I feel about you. And I hate that it has to be like this between us. Sneaking around, lying, keeping secrets from people we don't want to keep things from. Especially things like this," he stepped up the pace, seeing the younger man looking a bit anxious._

_"Right now it can't be helped, and if that's the way things have to be, then so be it, as long as I still have you. But when it's all over, when the war is ended and it doesn't matter whose side we were on, will you come stay with me? Be my partner openly, and if it works out, maybe even permanently?"_

_He was stunned. Speechless. Treize wanted him to stay and have a real romance with him? A rare smile lit his face at the thought. Gods but that sounded so good._

_"I'd love to," he said._

_Treize grinned and pulled him back into his arms. How he would have loved to kiss the beautiful Gundam pilot right there, but he held himself back. When they'd first discovered an interest in each other that had nothing to do with battle it was because he was simply being a gentleman, now it was for an entirely different reason._

_Fighting on different sides, never knowing if and/or when they'd see each other again, both felt it better to wait. It was foolish to get too attached to someone who should have been your enemy. They couldn't afford to let personal feelings get in the way of their ability to do their jobs. _

_It hurt badly enough already, being separated the way they were. And what if they were caught? Now as it was they could claim it was no more than friendship; mere sympathy for someone of a kindred spirit. It would hurt even more so if they were to be involved intimately, actually let themselves become truly close, and then face a charge of fraternizing with the enemy. So beyond the occasional hugs and holding hands, and once or twice cuddling next to each other, they refrained from physical contact._

_Supposedly, it would also make it easier for one to face the loss of the other to the war's hungry appetite. Force the romance to stay in its early stages, and then perhaps they could file it away amongst the many 'what ifs' and 'might have been' that accompanied their memories. But now, neither of them was so sure. If anything though, it had given them proof that what was between them wasn't just lust. It was more than that, far more. And if they were this close now, even with all the restraints they placed on themselves, then one could only imagine how inseparable they'd be if allowed free rein to let their relationship grow._

_He sighed, "I have to go now, really."_

_"Just promise me that you'll come back, and that you're mine," Treize said. It was the only regular verbal acknowledgement he made towards what was between them._

_"I promise," he said, then forcefully extracted himself from his love's arms, making his body move away even though it didn't want to._

_"But you have to promise me the same," he looked back, meeting Treize's eyes one last time._

_The older man nodded solemnly. "I do."_

_He smiled softly, and turned away, swiftly climbing out the window and leaping as silently as possible to the ground one story below…_

"HEY! 'FEI-MAN!"

Wufei jolted upright, hand immediately going for his gun, which lucky for his impromptu living alarm clock had the safety on. Not that that meant much when in the hands of a former Gundam pilot, but his ability to almost instantaneously identify and register a friend—even if he was pissed at said friend—made up for it.

Duo just laughed, uncaring of the fact his friend: A. had just pulled a gun on him, and B. had been asleep. He leaned over Wufei's desk and playfully ruffled his hair, ruining the severe visual effect given by his now formerly tight ponytail.

Wufei, irritated at being touched by someone, and even more furious at himself for falling asleep while at work, smacked the ex-02 pilot's hand away, growling. "Maxwell, is there a reason you feel it necessary to disturb me?"

Duo grinned. "Hey, better me than Une, right? Anyways I came in to tell you that said Lady asked us all to a meeting, so you might want to get down there quick. Oh, and by the way, what do you want for Christmas?"

Wufei looked at him half incredulously, half plain old expressionless stare that he gave people probably more often than any other look. "What does that have to do with anything, Maxwell?"

The braided man sighed. "It's standard procedure this time of year to ask, 'Fei. There's only two weeks left before Christmas."

The ex-Shenlong pilot stood and walked towards the door. "So? Isn't it also standard procedure to keep what you're getting someone a secret? Surprise me."

He left Duo to follow him to the meeting room at his own pace, while he desperately tried to get that dream, no, memory out of his head. _'Shinigami, even you couldn't give me what I wanted for Christmas.'_

This time of year was painful for him, like no one knew. It was around this time four years ago that Treize had asked him to stay with him after the war, and have a real relationship like they'd so badly wanted.

But then he'd gotten killed that same night, just before Christmas.

That day was for some unknown reason even more painful than the day he'd lost Meilan. Even worse was when he stopped trying to fool himself and owed up to the reason.

He'd loved Treize, in a way he never had Nataku. In a way he'd never loved anything. It was 'true' love, just like you read about in stories but never expect to actually find in real life. Nataku had brought out a fierce respect in him, and an appreciation for someone so strong and dedicated. But Treize was different. With Treize, he wanted to possess the man's entire being, and give his own in return. To be with always, and grow old with. To come home to, confide in, to share everything past, present and future with.

And the war had taken it from him, just as it had everything else.

Even worse, _he'd _been the tool the war had used to strike that fatal blow. Him. _His Gundam._ They'd both played the good little soldiers and fought each other just like they were supposed to…

And here he was four years later, with the death of his beloved still hanging over his head. Haunting him, refusing to let him move on. Not that he minded… it was only justice, really.

The Chinese agent closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, hating that he still felt this way over it. He supposed he'd never really get over it completely, but oh gods did it ever hurt.

Subsequently he couldn't stand Christmastime anymore. It just no longer held any joy for him, being such a harsh reminder now. Every year he put on a brave front for his friends. After all, they didn't know, and never would if he had anything to do with it. His time with Treize, no matter how brief it was or how 'casual' it remained, was his most precious memory, and he'd die before he'd see it slandered by someone who just didn't understand, or wasn't willing to because they saw the man in an entirely different—and not likely to change—light.

So he'd suffer quietly through another year, and cry himself to sleep as he'd done ever since the man died. Then it would be over and he'd pretend it never happened, just to get to do it all over again the next year.

Wufei reached the conference room, and made his way over to his customary spot in the seat closest to the door. Quatre and Trowa were already there. They discretely moved farther apart when he entered, but it didn't stop the keen-eyed martial artist from seeing how intimately they'd been sitting together a moment before.

His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing, not willing to pry into business that wasn't his.

"Hey Wufei, glad to see you finally out of that office," Quatre said. "Honestly, you're closed up in there so much I'd almost think you were going to move in."

"Yea, 'Fei-man, you really gotta get out more," Duo chirped up, catching the tail end of the conversation as he and Heero arrived and took their seats. Heero sat closest to the head of the table, Duo in between him and Wufei. Quatre and Trowa were directly across from them.

"Well unlike some people, Maxwell, I actually don't shirk my paperwork," Wufei shot back. "Or shorten people's names when they've told me repeatedly not to."

"Touchy boy," Duo scoffed. "You need to get laid. Replace that stick in your ass with a dick, or go get a girl. Something."

"Excuse me?" Wufei couldn't believe he'd just heard that from Duo in a conference room, where Commander Une was supposed to be walking in any moment. She'd skin him if he said something like that in her presence at work.

"Not that I condone the way Duo phrased it, Wufei, but he's right," Heero spoke up.

_'What?'_ Wufei's mind did a double-take. Where was this coming from?

"You're always alone when you're not with us, and that's not good. You need someone. Girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever, just stop distancing yourself and find someone. I mean look; I have Trowa, and Heero and Duo are together. You're the only one without a significant other. It'd be better if you had someone to come home to. Someone to talk to when we're not around," Quatre said.

"They're not wrong, Wufei," Trowa added his two cents in.

Pain exploded in the Chinese agent's chest as his friends unwittingly touched on the one subject he especially didn't need touched on at this time of year. How dare they? They knew shit about his love life, or how he felt about being alone.

_'Because you made sure it would be that way,'_ an insidious little voice in his head reminded him.

'_Shut up,'_ he told it. Not telling them about Treize was a necessity in his eyes. As for whether he chose to date or not, that still wasn't any of their business. Mentally he growled. Why was it that whenever people started dating, it suddenly became necessary to them for all of their friends to be doing the same? Absolutely infuriating.

But it didn't stop the pain.

Or the next thing that shot through his mind. Why the hell were they having this conversation?

He decided simply to ask. "And when did all of you find the time to pair off anyway? I for one don't have anywhere near enough free space in my schedule for anyone." There, that should get them on a good long tangent.

Quatre answered for himself and Trowa. "A few months before the war ended. Almost four years now. Which might have been a problem with how busy this job gets except for Lady Une allowing us to stay together as partners if we kept it low-key while on the job and so long as it didn't become a mission factor."

Wufei had to give him that. Working together definitely was a time-saver. So long as one didn't piss one's boss off.

"It'll be a year and a half for Duo and I come this spring, though Duo was chasing me around long before that," Heero said with a wry yet fond glance at his partner. "Lady Une's stipulation about being partners was definitely a life-saver. I don't know if we would have made it otherwise with the work schedules we have.

"Really," Wufei said dryly. Well wasn't that nice for them. It still didn't do anything for his situation to have such an accommodating commander, especially when he'd never have need of such accommodations. He planned on it.

He stood up to leave, not willing to stay in the room and wait for them to get around to harassing him again for still being single, while they all got their loves handed to them practically on silver platters, lucky bastards.

_'Not like I haven't done anything to deserve this. Maybe this is karma coming back to haunt me for falling in love with the enemy.'_ And how the hell had they gotten onto such a topic in the first place again? Not that it mattered anymore. The damage was done, he was pissed off, and the wounds he identified as his memories of Treize were threatening to cause him embarrassment should he be forced to stay around them any longer.

"Hey, 'Fei-man where're ya going? Une's going to be here any minute?" Duo called after him.

Wufei's retort died as he opened the door, only to find his commanding officer standing poised to open it herself.

"Why, thank you Agent Chang," she said, blinking in surprise. "I hope you were just being courteous and not trying to leave."

"No, Lady Une. I'm staying," he said, fighting to keep himself together. He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. The pain was getting out of his control, and this was the worst time for it to happen.

But since he was at work there was nothing for it except to deal with it and hope he could get through the meeting and get out and home before he broke down. Which wasn't going to be easy, from the looks everyone was giving him as he went back to the conference table and took up his seat again.

"Now then, I'm just going to get down to business," Une said as she reached her position at the head of the table. "These last couple of weeks you all have been working very hard—"

"You can say that again," Duo muttered. Heero kicked him under the table as Une glared.

"As I was saying, you've all been working hard for us, and the rest of the Preventers and myself wanted to give you a little gift this Christmas."

Out of the folder in her hand Une pulled five small packets and passports. "Your passports are all due to be renewed, so I did it for you before they expired. These packets each have an airline ticket and a key to a cabin in a winter resort in the Swiss Alps that we've reserved for you all to spend Christmas in together, away from missions and paperwork, and all that other stuff."

"Oh my…" Quatre trailed off, truly touched by Lady Une's thoughtfulness.

"Lady, for once I'm speechless," Duo said.

"I wouldn't say entirely speechless, Maxwell," Wufei quipped. "This is very nice of you, Commander," he said to Une.

"Thank you," Trowa said simply.

"Thank you very much," Heero added. "This is perfect." He couldn't wait to spend Christmas in the Alps with his lover and friends.

The others echoed his thoughts, except for Wufei. Christmas in the Alps sounded wonderful, but the packet said it was reserved for them for two weeks, starting in two days.

He'd hoped to have much of that time alone when he wasn't at work to steel himself so he'd be able to hold it together when he saw them on Christmas Day. One thing he'd never do if he could help it was break down in front of others. This was not going to make it easy.

"You're all very welcome," Une beamed, a rare sight while at the Preventer Headquarters. "Now, I want you all to finish what absolutely needs to be done today, then get home and take care of all your loose ends so you'll be ready to leave on Wednesday morning. And I don't want to see you all again unless it's on vidphone telling me how beautiful it is up there."

"All right! Done deal," Duo cheered, shooting out the door, dragging Heero along by the wrist.

"Merry Christmas, Commander Une," Heero called as he tried not to trip over anything while his lover steered him haphazardly.

"We really appreciate this, Commander," Trowa said. Quatre nodded his agreement. "This is really quite generous of you."

"As if you were one to talk about generosity, Winner," Une chuckled. "Now, you and Barton go and have a wonderful time."

"Will do," Quatre grinned as the two of them made for the door. "Coming Wufei?"

"I'll be right along," he said.

"Okay," Quatre smiled, if a little subdued, before he and his own lover disappeared from sight.

"Are you alright, Wufei?" Lady Une asked, before he himself could try to either leave or say anything to her.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Wufei responded with a question of his own.

Lady Une gave him a pointed look. "Don't think I'm an idiot. I've seen you. Every year the other pilots, even Heero and Trowa, get all excited, and you just get more sullen and introverted than ever. Then, in a few weeks when it's all over, you go back to normal with a sense of relief about you. What is it, Wufei?"

Unwilling to tell her a lie, but not wanting to drag it out and possibly have the others get involved, he decided to tell Une part of the truth.

"I lost someone dear to me just before Christmas while the war was still going on. I guess I still miss them, that's all."

"Oh, Wufei I'm sorry. I hope this trip at least eases a little of that hurt for you," she said genuinely. Part of her would have liked to ask who it was that he'd lost, but she decided against it, knowing that if he wanted anyone to know the details, he'd volunteer them in his own time.

"Me too. Thank you Lady Une," Wufei forced a smile onto his lips. He needed to get out of there, fast. "I'm going to go now, my work is already done for today." Done long enough that exhaustion from all the long hours the pilots had been putting in had managed to catch up to him. Thus the incident of falling asleep on his desk and the dream and his current battle with his emotions.

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Wufei. Have a good time."

With that, he left the conference room, forcing his composure to stay intact. Grabbing his coat, laptop, and keys, he bid goodbye to the other pilots to keep them from getting suspicious, and headed for his car.

By the time he got home, he only had enough time to put his stuff down in the living room and lock the door, before the tears could be held back no longer and he collapsed on the couch and cried.

**~*~TBC…~*~**


	2. Part 2

**All I Want For Christmas Is You**

***Author*****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Rating*****:** PG-13 (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)

***Disclaimer*****:** I am not the owner of Gundam Wing, only the story premise of this particular fanfic. This is a not-for-profit fanwork done by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans, nothing more.

***Warnings*****:** Yaoi (gay romance)

***Pairings*****:** Treize/Wufei (main), Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

***Timeline*****:** The little blurb at the beginning takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So, I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I forget everyone's age in cannon when the series ended. I know they were 15 at the start of Operation Meteor, but I totally don't remember how long the war lasted. I seem to recall something that they were stil 15… O_o? Too young for my purposes, so I simply decided that it made sense for the war to take a few years (more logical to me considering its scale than this idea that the whole thing ended in 12 months). Thus in this fic the pilots were 19 at the war's conclusion, which puts them all at 23 at the start of the story. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.

***Feedback*****:** Yes please, but no flames. If you don't like the story go find something you do like rather than wasting the time writing something I'm only going to ignore. Constructive criticism however, is welcome, and I'm always open to it.

***Summary*****: **They were enemies on the battlefield, and spent their time basking in newfound love when no one was looking. Before the war's end Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together, should both survive its conclusion. Then came the fateful battle where Treize was killed by Wufei's hand. Four years later Wufei's still grieving, not knowing that Treize never died. Miraculously he survived, but has remained hidden, not willing to face the pilot only to find Wufei's over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?

**~*~Part 2~*~**

Treize sighed as he watched Zechs and Noin put up the last of the ornaments on their tree. He'd helped with some of them, but once it came down to only their special and most personal ornaments that still needed to be put up, he left them to finish it. After all, it was their tree. Even after staying with the couple for the last few years, he still felt almost like an intruder in their lives, though they would forever deny it.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Treize Kushrenada had survived. Horribly injured, and rendered comatose for a year, he'd woken up to find himself in the care of Sally Po, his best friend, Zechs Merquise, and his then-fiance, the former Lieutenant Lucretia Noin. Who despite being married still demanded of everyone except her husband that she be referred to by her maiden name, citing that she liked 'Noin' much better than 'Lucretia', and that after all the years she spent in the military it just felt more natural.

They'd been amazing, all of them. Sally'd respected his wishes and kept his continued existence a secret, citing 'patient confidentiality' a suitable excuse for not telling her superiors. And Zechs and Noin had been with him every step of the way throughout his long and painful recovery and rehabilitation.

Now he was absolutely fine and more than physically ready should he wish to make his reentry into the world.

But there was that one thing that held him back. One person, whose semi-unknown fate kept him up at night, wondering.

Chang Wufei.

He knew the five Gundam pilots had all survived the war. Knew that they'd all joined the Preventers. What he didn't know, that scared him the most, was what else had become of his beloved since that time.

The Gundam pilots all thought him dead, from what Zechs had told him. And Sally, working with the Preventers and seeing the pilots on a regular basis, had confirmed it.

Bearing that in mind, what kind of life outside of missions did Wufei have? Sally said he still kept much to himself, and having himself had a secret relationship with the beautiful oriental pilot, her statement that he didn't have a current significant other didn't necessarily mean much.

For all he knew, Wufei could have someone else, and just not want to let others in on it yet. He was a very private young man, and it wouldn't surprise Treize in the least if he woke up tomorrow to find out he had moved on with his life and found someone new to share it with.

After all, you couldn't expect someone who was only—what, 23?—to keep pining over a 'dead' lover who had technically never been his lover for the rest of his life.

But Treize could still pine over Wufei.

He still loved that fiery dragon, the first person ever to ignite such strong feelings in him. Sally had shown him pictures of the pilots taken over the years since he'd seen them last, and oh but his Wufei was even more stunning now than he'd been during the war, if that was even possible.

The promise they'd made that December night four years ago still burned bright in his heart, and he still wanted more than ever to make good on it.

But the fear that Wufei might not feel the same twisted like a knife in his gut. He just couldn't make himself pick up that phone and blow his cover. After all this the hope, however foolish, that Wufei might still want him gave him a reason to continue on. Without it, he saw no further reason to exist in this world beyond hiding out in some nondescript place somewhere until he died of old age. His position in society before the war was no more, and based on his allegiances in the war he was unlikely to be welcomed back by many people. Why would he want to go through all the trouble of rebuilding a life in a world that was content to see him gone, when he had no compelling reason to do so?

His reason for being was Wufei. He'd survived and overcome what no human should be able to overcome, all to get back to Wufei.

Only to chicken out in the end.

The couch cushion next to him compressed as a weight settled down on it, startling him out of his musings.

Zechs gave his former superior officer a wry smile. "You need to just call him."

"Call who?" Treize tried to play dumb, even though he fully realized how futile it was.

"05. You need to call him, and get this whole stupid thing over with."

"No. I'd rather live with the possibility that he'd still want me than the knowledge he's moved on and doesn't feel that way about me anymore," Treize looked away. Zechs had noticed early on after he'd woken up from his coma that Treize seemed almost constantly distracted, and way too interested in Chang Wufei whenever the Gundam pilots were brought into a conversation. So he'd confronted him about it. Treize, not about to lie to one of his dearest friends, had confessed to having had a secret relationship with Chang during the war. Needless to say Zechs had found it amusingly ironic that the two arch-rivals had fallen in love. Noin had reacted much the same.

"If you keep waiting, that's going to become a reality. What if he still wants you now, but you say nothing and someone comes along to make him want to move on? Then you'll have lost him for no good reason," Zechs reasoned.

"What he's trying to say," Noin put in, as she joined them, three steaming cups of tea in her hand, which she handed out to the two men. "Is that by waiting you're only sabotaging yourself. You need to talk to Wufei before he has a chance to fall in love with someone else."

"But what if he already has?" Treize asked softly.

"Then it wasn't meant to be," Noin replied gently. "And there's someone else out there who's meant for you. At least then you'll know and be able to get on with your life. An amazing guy like you really has no business depriving the world of your presence, Treize. It's been four years, at least get some closure already."

"You'd just like to have sex without me overhearing you all the time," Treize quipped.

"Damn straight. And you need to go get your little Shenlong pilot boyfriend and get laid. Both of you need it bad, if Chang's still as uptight as Sally says he is." Zechs grinned.

Noin glared at them and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. Men. Everything was always about sex. Bottom line. Poor Wufei, if Treize ever did hook up with him. That man had supposedly gone without sex since he'd started dating the pilot, and said pilot was going to bear the brunt of that pent-up energy should the two of them ever get around to sleeping together.

Deciding enough was enough; she got up and left the room for a moment, returning with the portable vidphone and the number and extension code to reach the pilots at Preventer headquarters. Sally'd given it to her, should Treize ever get the guts to contact Wufei.

"Here," she dialed the number and put in the extension for Wufei's office line. "Cut the crap, and call him right now. Get this over with, and if you want, invite him over for Christmas. Hell, invite them all over if you want, just talk to him."

Treize looked down at the vidphone in horror. Oh shit. What if he picked up? The ex-soldier's heart threatened to cease beating altogether, when across the screen flashed a message, and an electronic voice repeated it from the speaker.

"I'm sorry, but the agent you have requested is not in his or her office at this time. Please try your call again at a later time, or press 1 to leave a message."

"Okay, then let's try Heero's," Noin said, taking the vidphone and dialing the number again before Treize could stop her, this time with the 01 pilot's extension.

"No," Treize said, "I am not talking to Yuy about me and Wufei! What if he doesn't know and I get Wufei in trouble with the other pilots?"

"Well you'll just have to take that chance," Noin replied. Treize looked to Zechs for help, but the blonde man just put his arms up in the air in surrender. He wasn't going to get thrown out of bed for the night because he'd gotten in his wife's way when she had her mind set on something for one, and for another he happened to agree with her that the game was up. It was time to end the charade.

The time for argument ended abruptly, as the call connected and Heero Yuy's face appeared on the screen.

"Heero Yuy here. Wait, Noin? What are you calling here for?" the ex-Wing pilot was a bit stunned to see the woman again, after not hearing anything from her other than the news of her marriage to Zechs Merquise.

"Hello Heero," Noin smiled. "I'm actually trying to track down Chang. Do you know where I might reach him?"

"What do you need to speak with him about?" Heero asked.

"Well, it's a long story, but I've got someone here who would very much like to see him again, so if you could tell us where we can find him, I'd really appreciate it."

"I'm not telling you anything unless you tell me who wants to speak with him," Yuy replied coolly.

"He does," Noin said simply, and thrust the phone into Treize's hands.

Treize's composure was there in less than a moment, years of being a commanding officer coming into play subconsciously. "Hello, Yuy."

"You…" Heero whispered, for a split second looking pale and shaken as though he'd seen a ghost. Then his voice came back to normal volume. "You died."

"You're not the only one who can survive the destruction of your Gundam while you're still in it, Heero," Treize said simply.

"What do you want with Wufei?" Heero's voice took on a cold edge, facial expression hardening. He remembered all too well the fierce battles fought between his fellow pilot and the former Oz leader. The last thing anyone needed was for Wufei to find out Treize was still alive and go off and start engaging the other soldier again.

"Pilot 05 and I made a promise to seek each other out if we both survived the war. I'm honoring that promise," Treize said. It was the truth, if not the whole truth.

"No. You stay away from him, Kushrenada. Hasn't Wufei been through enough already? Haven't _you_ put him through enough? He's finally got the war out of his head. He's finally at peace; he's got his life together. He doesn't need you digging up old wounds and grudges. Leave him alone, he's better off without you disrupting his life again. He's gone through enough hurt; let him be so he can heal. Leave us all be, for that matter. He's moved on now that the war's done. You should too. Don't call here again."

With that, Heero terminated the call.

Unwittingly leaving Treize finding himself going tunnel-visioned as his one hope in the world caved in on him.

He'd been right. Wufei'd moved on.

A tear rolled down his cheek before he could stop it from falling. Zechs' heart went out to his friend, and he scooted closer, putting an arm around the other man for support. Never before had he ever seen Treize cry, but this was more than a good enough excuse.

"I'm sorry, my friend. So sorry."

Heero was still thoroughly shocked and irritated when Duo walked into their shared office.

_'How dare he? Hasn't he done enough already? We've all had enough trouble adjusting to life without the war, but Wufei's had it harder than everyone else. Why can't Treize just leave well enough alone?'_

"Whoa. What is it, Heero? You look like you shot at something and missed," Duo asked, seeing the brooding look on his boyfriend's face.

"Hn, more like caught it dead on, but it's what I was 'shooting' at that's bothering me."

"Really. What happened?" Duo asked, wondering if it was something he needed to be concerned about.

"He's alive," Heero replied.

"Who?"

"Treize Kushrenada. He just called here asking about Wufei."

"Treize Kushrenada's alive? How the fuck did he manage that?" If it was anyone else telling him this Duo would have told them to go take a hike. But this was Heero, and Heero didn't lie to him.

"I don't know, but it's not an issue. I told him to fuck off and leave us all alone, and if he persists I'll let Lady Une take care of it," Heero said with finality.

"What does he want with Wufei though?" Duo wondered. They all knew about the rivalry between their friend and Treize, but with the war over it seemed a silly thing to go digging up now.

Heero shook his head. "He said Wufei and he made a promise to seek each other out if they both survived the war. He didn't exactly say for what, but I'm not going to take any chances. Wufei's finally settled into the idea of a life without war, and I don't want a meeting with Treize to set him off. Lady Une will skin him alive if he tries to settle whatever old score he and Kushrenada have between them, if I don't get to him and beat the shit out of him first."

Duo nodded. "So we won't tell him Treize's alive then. But what about Quat and Trowa?"

"We'll let them in on it, just to be fair, and so everyone has the same understanding with regards to Wufei. But unless it comes up or Wufei absolutely needs to know we won't mention it."

The former Deathscythe Hell pilot fully agreed with him. "We can fill them in on the way out. I'm done for the day."

"As am I," Heero said, packing his laptop into his bag and getting his coat and keys.

"Hey Heero?"

"What?" he looked at Duo, curious as to the strange look on the braided man's face.

Duo sighed and crossed his arms. "Was it just me, or was there something funny about how Wufei reacted when we all said he needed to stop being single?"

A frown marred Heero's face as he thought about it for a moment. "Hn, he did seem a little more offended than he usually does when someone tries to pry into his business. But then again maybe he's just not comfortable enough yet to start thinking about dating. Between the war and holding so tight to the memory of Nataku and getting revenge for her, that might be something that'll take longer for him to get into."

"True," Duo nodded.

"Let's go," Heero said.

He led the way to the office next door, which Quatre and Trowa occupied. The two were just putting their coats on; also ready to leave for the day.

"Hey, just came by to say see you on Wednesday, and to let you know that Treize called, apparently he's not as dead as we thought," Heero quipped.

Quatre, who had turned to return his goodbye, did a double take. "Okay. Wait, WHAT?"

Duo laughed. "Yup, take note everyone. Heero Yuy actually has a sense of humor."

"No, no, no! I meant about Treize! What do you mean he's not as dead as we thought?" Quatre yelled.

"Hush," Trowa tried to soothe him. "Let them explain before everyone else in the building hears you."

Quatre nodded and looked expectantly to Heero for an explanation.

Heero, not wanting to risk another outburst from the former Sandrock pilot, promptly told him about Treize's call, and his request to see Wufei.

"Hmm, I think you're right about not letting Wufei know," Trowa said when he was finished.

"Yea, for all we know he'll go out and do something stupid. Like try to duel him to the death or something," Quatre added.

Heero nodded. "Which is why we're not going to tell him unless it becomes necessary in the future."

"And while we're at it, after this vacation's over Lady Une should be informed as well," Trowa said.

"I agree. At any rate, now that you two know Duo and I are going to head home."

Heero left the room. Duo followed after waving goodnight to his friends. "See you Wednesday guys!"

"Bye!" Quatre responded cheerfully, though inside his mind was in turmoil. Noble as their intentions were, he just couldn't shake the feeling that Wufei wasn't going to remain in the dark about his rival's survival for long. The possible consequences of that happening had him very worried.

A hand fell on his shoulder and he looked back to see his lover giving him a small but encouraging smile. "It'll be okay, Quatre. If Wufei finds out then all we have to do is be there to keep an eye on him and talk some sense into him should he try anything stupid."

"I know. I just worry about him. He's had so much trouble adjusting. I'd hate to think what he'd be like if he hadn't been given the job as a Preventers agent," Quatre said. "What if he does something and this time we can't get him out of it? Une would have a fit if he did anything against the law, or got hurt, or…"

Gently Trowa turned his lover so they were face-to-face. "Quatre, enough. I know how you feel. But there's nothing we can do about that bridge if it isn't even there to be crossed yet. Let it go for now, and let's go home."

Quatre sighed, still uneasy, but a kiss from the taller Heavyarms pilot had all of his worries flying to the back of his mind as he opened his teeth and let his tongue come out to play with his lover's. After a few moments he found himself out of air, having been taken by surprise and not ready to have to hold his breath for any length of time.

Trowa was ready for this and pulled away, gazing fondly at his smaller boyfriend. Quatre's concerns weren't unfounded, and mirrored not only his own, but he was certain Heero and Duo's as well. But for now, there was nothing to be done for it, except to let it go and hope Wufei never found out his rival still lived.

"Let's go home Quatre. I for one would like to get this little vacation started early. What do you think?" teasingly he let his fingers ghost down Quatre's stomach and trace little patterns on and around his groin.

Quatre groaned, arousal hitting him at the suggestion those fingertips were whispering to him. "Ohhh, Trowa. I hope you plan on getting back home quick. Because there's no way I'm going to let you leave me like this for long."

His lover grinned, something only Quatre ever got to see on a regular basis, and wrapped his arm around the little Arab, steering him out the door, as he grabbed both keys and laptops off the desks on the way out, handing Quatre his. "Then I suggest we get going."

**~*~TBC…~*~**


	3. Part 3

**All I Want For Christmas Is You**

***Author*****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Rating*****:** PG-13 (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)

***Disclaimer*****:** I am not the owner of Gundam Wing, only the story premise of this particular fanfic. This is a not-for-profit fanwork done by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans, nothing more.

***Warnings*****:** Yaoi (gay romance)

***Pairings*****:** Treize/Wufei (main), Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

***Timeline*****:** The little blurb at the beginning takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So, I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I forget everyone's age in cannon when the series ended. I know they were 15 at the start of Operation Meteor, but I totally don't remember how long the war lasted. I seem to recall something that they were stil 15… O_o? Too young for my purposes, so I simply decided that it made sense for the war to take a few years (more logical to me considering its scale than this idea that the whole thing ended in 12 months). Thus in this fic the pilots were 19 at the war's conclusion, which puts them all at 23 at the start of the story. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.

***Feedback*****:** Yes please, but no flames. If you don't like the story go find something you do like rather than wasting the time writing something I'm only going to ignore. Constructive criticism however, is welcome, and I'm always open to it.

***Summary*****: **They were enemies on the battlefield, and spent their time basking in newfound love when no one was looking. Before the war's end Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together, should both survive its conclusion. Then came the fateful battle where Treize was killed by Wufei's hand. Four years later Wufei's still grieving, not knowing that Treize never died. Miraculously he survived, but has remained hidden, not willing to face the pilot only to find Wufei's over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?

**~*~Part 3~*~**

Lady Une shook her head as she reread the file in front of her. An irritated growl left her throat as she shut it and pushed the envelope away. _'Dammit people!'_ There were days she seriously wondered at the wisdom of having the Gundam pilots as field agents. Them being there meant that anything her lesser qualified agents couldn't do, they could simply pass on, and her five would make sure it still got done.

Fucking pampered bastards. It also meant that when the pilots were away, hell almost always broke loose among the Special Ops.

She sighed, and rubbed at her temples. Leave it to them to also come up with an issue they really and truly couldn't work through on their own, just when she was trying to give her best boys a rest.

It was with great reluctance and restraint of temper that she picked up her cell and dialed Quatre's number.

It only took a couple of rings before the 04 pilot picked up.

"Quatre speaking."

"Hello Winner," she decided to go the more congenial route than simply ordering him back to headquarters. "How has your trip been so far?

"Wonderful, Lady Une. I've never had a better vacation," he replied.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Well, we went snowboarding, and Heero fell off the chairlift."

"Yuy fell off the chairlift?" her voice was incredulous. "How the hell did he manage that?"

"Even he's not totally sure. All I got from the explanation given was that someone called out something obscene in regards to his ass, and he turned to see who it was, and apparently fell off the lift."

Une shook her head. Of all the people she'd expected not to get themselves in trouble while on vacation… "Was that all that happened?"

"No. Duo fell and got the end of his braid caught in his boot bindings. Then Wufei ran into him and ended up going down pretty hard."

The Preventer Commander closed her eyes and winced. "Are they okay?"

"Yea, they're fine. A couple of bruises, but nothing bad. That night Duo accidentally tripped over Wufei while he was lying in front of the fire, reading. Wufei got hot chocolate spilled all over him. We're still debating whether or not it was an actual accident, or Duo's revenge for almost getting his braid torn off. But that wasn't as bad as what happened to Trowa and me," he added.

"Do I even want to know?" Une asked.

Already on a roll, Quatre answered her question by telling the story. "Well, me and Trowa snuck out one night for a little skinny dip in the Jacuzzi. I'm guessing Heero or someone didn't realize we were out there because they locked the door, so we had no way of getting back in, and we were not going to wait out in the cold in our towels. So we went back in the water, only the heat got to me and I guess I passed out. According to what I was told later, Trowa wrapped me in both towels and started banging on the door. He woke Wufei up, and he came out to see what was going on, only to get flashed by Tro, and apparently he didn't take that too well. He yelled, and Heero and Duo came downstairs and let Trowa in. They're still teasing him about it, and I think Wufei's been mentally scarred."

_'I would be too,' _Une thought, sorry she'd asked. "Thanks for the, ummm, interesting tale Quatre, but I'm afraid I have to ask something of you."

"What?" he asked, trying to keep the dread out of his voice.

"I'm really sorry to have to cut into you're vacation, but I'm going to have to ask you to come back to Headquarters. There's a mission that came up after you left. I have agents assigned to carry it out, but I desperately need your help in the planning stage. I'm sending a helicopter to take you back to the airport so you can catch one of our planes back tonight. I'll send you back to Trowa and the others on Christmas Eve so you can spend it with them."

"There's no one else who can help you, ma'am?" Quatre questioned, likely already knowing what the answer would be.

"I'm sorry, Quatre, but no. Be ready to be picked up at 21:00 hours," she replied.

"Yes, ma'am," his voice was emotionless and professional. She hated doing this to him.

"I'm truly sorry Quatre. If anyone else could get these guys out of this mess I wouldn't be bothering you. But I promise to have you back there by Christmas Eve," Une said regretfully.

"I understand, Lady Une. Thank you for at least letting me still have Christmas with everyone."

"And thank you, Quatre. I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'm going to have someone drop you off at your house, and then I want to see you at work bright and early. We'll work our butts off to have this whole thing done hopefully between the night of the 23rd, and midday on the 24th."

"Okay, I'll be ready to leave," he said.

"See you tomorrow Quatre."

She disconnected the call, and dropped her face into her hands. Oh, this was a bitch. Sitting back up, she regarded her vidphone for a moment, and decided to get her mind off of disrupting her pilots' vacation by making a personal call she'd been meaning to make for over a week now.

Dialing the number, she calmly sat back and waited for it to connect. After a few moments it went through, and she was greeted by the bright blue eyes of the Lightning Count.

"Hello Zechs."

"Lady Une, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

"How's married life treating you?" she smiled.

"Oh, fine, fine. Honestly I don't know why people act like getting hitched is such a bad thing. It's really quite enjoyable," he grinned.

"Until Noin gets fed up with your appetite," Une quipped. "Or decides she wants children."

"She'd better not!" Zechs looked thoroughly horrified.

"Oh just you wait. She'll get there, and then it's doomsday for you," the Lady grinned, enjoying watching him squirm.

Zechs shook his head at her teasing. "Are you calling just to torment me, or was there something else you wanted?"

"That, and I wanted to speak to Treize."

"You wanted to _what_? Treize died; what are you talking about?" Zechs was shocked.

"Oh, please. Cut the crap Merquise. I know full well you've been keeping him hidden the past few years, and enough's enough. Especially when Noin and he start calling my Gundam pilots," Une glared.

"Since when are they _your_ Gundam pilots?" Zechs grumbled.

"Since they joined the Preventers and are now under _my _command. And I'd appreciate it if you'd go get Treize now. I'd like to speak with him before I skin you both for keeping me in the dark."

"Oh, fine," Zechs got up and moved away from the screen. A few moments later he came back, a very startled Treize Kushrenada in tow.

"Lady Une," he said, looking for once completely unsure of himself.

"Treize, it's good to see you alive," she couldn't help the grin that came unbidden to her face, while she tried to combat the tears that threatened to fall.

"I suppose I owe you an apology, for letting you think I was dead all this time," he looked truly sorry, and she couldn't find it in her to stay mad at him.

"I understand why it was necessary, but could you do me a favor?"

"What?" he asked.

Une smiled. "First of all, don't shut me out anymore. You're my friend, and I'd like us to stay that way. And second, will you come have dinner with me tomorrow?"

Treize grinned, a relieved and pleasantly surprised look on his face. "I won't, Lady. And yes, I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Good. There's something I'd like to ask you, aside from catching up on old times," she said cryptically.

"About…?"

"That's for tomorrow. And I have to go now; I have work to get done. I'll meet you here at Preventer Headquarters," she replied.

"Um, Lady Une?" he spoke softly, as if unsure.

"What is it?" Une frowned.

Treize gave her a weak smile. "Are the Gundam pilots going to be there?"

Une shook her head, "Ah, not really ready to meet them again, huh? I don't blame you, especially after the way Yuy reacted to your call."

He looked surprised. "You knew about that?"

"Yes, and I apologize for anything uncouth that he might have said. Yuy's even more protective of his pseudo-family now than he ever was before. Especially since he and Duo have started dating."

Treize shook his head. "01 and 02, huh? Doesn't surprise me. And have 03 and 04 started dating as well?"

"Yes," Une smiled. "The only one of them not currently attached to my knowledge is Wufei."

A wistful look came to the former Epyon pilot's eyes. "I see. But you didn't answer my question. Will they be there?"

"No," Une shook her head. "Well, you might run into Quatre, but out of the five he's probably going to be the least volatile about it. I sent all five to a winter resort in the Alps for Christmas. I had to call Winner to come back here because we have an issue, and I need his help. He's going back the moment it's resolved so he can be with his boyfriend on Christmas Eve."

"I see. Well then I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. 18:00 hours, then?"

Une nodded. "That's fine with me. See you then, Treize."

"Until then, Lady Une."

As she terminated the call, Une couldn't help but smile as she thought of seeing her old friend again. But that smile quickly became a look of deep contemplation as her mind flashed to the look of longing in Treize's eyes when she mentioned Wufei. It was hardly noticable, unless one knew him well enough to look for the subtle changes in his expression that gave away his emotions. But it was out of the ordinary for the ex-Gundam pilots to garner such a reaction from him. Especially the one who had been responsible for destroying his Gundam with him inside.

_'And from what I overheard, he contacted Yuy specifically to try to find Chang. But if he was simply rivals with Chang, and trying to finish something they started during the war, he wouldn't have looked like that when I mentioned him. Come to think of it, it was when I mentioned Wufei was still single…'_

She sat there mulling over it for a while. Treize never looked that particular way unless one was talking to him about someone he cared for deeply. Even then, he'd have to love them more than anything else in this world for just the mention of them to garner such an expression from him. So why was it that he made an exception for Chang? She thought back to the war, and all the battles she'd seen between him and Wufei.

The way they treated each other with more reverence than anyone else. The way his eyes had lit in horror when he'd discovered the air supply to Chang and Maxwell's prison had been shut off, and the pilots almost suffocated. How different he was when speaking about the Chinese pilot, as opposed to the other four, though she had to say it was very well hidden, and again only noticeable to those who knew him.

The answer smacked her full out in the face.

He loved him. Treize Kushrenada was in love with Chang Wufei!

It made perfect sense. Why else would he give up his chance to live anonymously and unbothered by anyone who might still hold a grudge against him just to contact the pilot again, knowing how the others might react?

Why else would he have such a wistful and longing look when Wufei's name was mentioned?

Then her conversation with Chang himself flashed in front of her mind's eye, and she couldn't help but gasp as she mentally replayed his words again.

_"I lost someone dear to me just before Christmas while the war was still going on. I guess I still miss them, that's all." _

That sullen and withdrawn look on Chang's face every time Christmas came around. The fact that you could never find hide nor hair of him on December 22nd, the day Treize supposedly died his very hands. And afterwards, he was more introverted and almost shy until around New Years.

Her hand flew to her mouth, as if to keep the laughter bubbling up inside of her from spilling forth.

He returned Treize's feelings.

Now little oddities Treize had developed during the war made perfect sense, as well as his unorthodox treatment of Pilot 05, and Wufei's equally unorthodox grief for the enemy he had fought so hard to destroy.

This time Une really did laugh out loud.

Treize Kushrenada and Chang Wufei. She shook her head in amusement. Who'da thought? They were the masters when it came to hiding their personal lives. And oh but this was the greatest stunt either had ever pulled.

And from what she could tell, even after four years of separation, their feelings for each other had stayed the same.

Suddenly another realization came to her, as she remembered the word's she'd overheard Heero growl at Treize. She hadn't meant to overhear, but she'd been walking past and when she'd heard Treize's name she couldn't help but stop and listen.

Heero had told him Wufei had moved on, and that he shouldn't disrupt his life again. Knowing Treize he'd take it as meaning that Wufei no longer wanted him, and Heero, being totally ignorant of the situation, had unintentionally done his friend a great disservice. No wonder Treize hadn't wanted to see them again.

She shook her head sadly. Such foolishness from people who were supposed to be so intelligent.

Her grin returned as she began formulating plans in her head, and looked through her address book for Noin's cell phone number. Treize was going to be in town tomorrow, and she'd be damned if he left before they straightened this whole mess out. With Wufei still grieving as badly as he was, he wasn't really as effective as usual. Oh, he'd get the job done, but there was no spark, no fire in him. And as for Treize, well, she wasn't going to let her dear friend suffer if it could be helped.

**~*~TBC…~*~**


	4. Part 4

**All I Want For Christmas Is You**

***Author*****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Rating*****:** PG-13 (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)

***Disclaimer*****:** I am not the owner of Gundam Wing, only the story premise of this particular fanfic. This is a not-for-profit fanwork done by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans, nothing more.

***Warnings*****:** Yaoi (gay romance)

***Pairings*****:** Treize/Wufei (main), Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

***Timeline*****:** The little blurb at the beginning takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So, I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I forget everyone's age in cannon when the series ended. I know they were 15 at the start of Operation Meteor, but I totally don't remember how long the war lasted. I seem to recall something that they were stil 15… O_o? Too young for my purposes, so I simply decided that it made sense for the war to take a few years (more logical to me considering its scale than this idea that the whole thing ended in 12 months). Thus in this fic the pilots were 19 at the war's conclusion, which puts them all at 23 at the start of the story. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.

***Feedback*****:** Yes please, but no flames. If you don't like the story go find something you do like rather than wasting the time writing something I'm only going to ignore. Constructive criticism however, is welcome, and I'm always open to it.

***Summary*****: **They were enemies on the battlefield, and spent their time basking in newfound love when no one was looking. Before the war's end Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together, should both survive its conclusion. Then came the fateful battle where Treize was killed by Wufei's hand. Four years later Wufei's still grieving, not knowing that Treize never died. Miraculously he survived, but has remained hidden, not willing to face the pilot only to find Wufei's over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?

**~*~Part 4~*~**

Quatre sighed as he made his way downstairs to break the bad news to his friends and lover. Random mishaps aside, the past week had been truly awesome, and he was loath to tell Trowa that it would have to be disrupted.

But it couldn't be helped. It was already after six, and the chopper was picking him up at 9, so there really wasn't much time to mope about.

In the main room of the cabin, the other four ex-pilots sat sprawled on the couches around the fireplace, which was roaring merrily. Trowa in particular was hogging the loveseat, saving him a spot for when he joined them. Heero and Duo were spread out on the couch, lying in each other's arms, half asleep by the looks of it. And Wufei was curled with his book alone on the third couch.

Trowa looked up at his entrance and smiled, holding out his arms for the blonde to come join him. Quatre grinned and willingly sank into the warm embrace.

Wufei watched them discreetly from his perch across the room. Jealousy poked at him as the blonde tucked his head under Trowa's chin, and Trowa leaned back just far enough to drop a kiss into his lover's golden hair.

His eyes shifted to the other couch, and to Heero and Duo. Heero was lying partially on top of Duo, and the braided man had their foreheads pressed together as he wrapped his arm around his lover's neck and ran his fingers repeatedly through his hair.

A pang struck his heart seeing this. Treize had convinced him once to let his hair loose, and he'd found it enjoyable beyond any expectations he'd ever had to lie in his boyfriend's arms and have his hair petted and finger combed, and his scalp massaged.

He'd tried to ensconce himself away in his room today, or go off and hide from the others. Tonight was the fourth anniversary of Treize's death, and he wanted nothing more than to go find a shrine and pray like he always did, and then go home and cry himself to sleep.

But there was nothing like that up here, and no opportunity to sneak away, the others had made sure of that. And as for trying to hide himself away to mourn, well, the others hadn't let him do that either. And for the sake of them not finding out about his secret love, he'd been forced to put on the strongest mask he'd ever forged and pretend everything was just as fine and dandy as it had always been.

While inside all he wanted to do was die and join the one person he'd ever loved. He wouldn't actually do that, but he could certainly wish for it.

His sorrowful reverie was broken by Quatre addressing Trowa.

"Trowa? I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What's wrong, my love?" Trowa leaned back so that he could see Quatre's face when he spoke.

"Lady Une called, while I was upstairs. Apparently one of the other team's missions has hit a snag, and they need me to help them rework their strategy. She's sending a helicopter for me tonight, and supposedly I'll be back Christmas Eve," Quatre explained.

Trowa frowned. How could she do that? Christmas Eve was the day after tomorrow, and depending on what the problem was, there was no guarantee they would be able to let Quatre go before then. Not to mention it had started snowing hard about an hour ago, and wasn't showing signs of letting up. According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to storm like that throughout the next three days, so even if Quatre did get done in time to be back for Christmas, there was no guarantee he would be able to get back through the storm.

He voiced these concerns, as the other three listened, wearing their own frowns.

"I'm sorry, Tro, but it can't be helped," Quatre said miserably.

"It would have to be something big, for her to call one of us back after declaring us on leave," Wufei spoke up. And more than just a snag if she was calling for Quatre in particular. He was the best of them as far as tactics went, and if it was anything less she probably would have called for him instead, since he didn't have a significant other to leave behind.

That thought sent another bitter wave of pain through him.

Trowa pursed his lips, not at all pleased. For a moment he sat there as if trying to come to a decision on something, before disengaging himself from Quatre's arms and getting off the loveseat.

"Trowa?" Quatre's voice squeaked a bit, as if he were afraid his lover was angry with him for having to leave.

Trowa turned back and bent down, kissing the small Arab on the nose. "It's okay, I'll be right back. I just have to get something."

With that he left the room, taking the stairs two at a time up to his and Quatre's room. The other four watched after him curiously, wondering at his behavior.

He came back a moment later, with something small and black in his hand. Everyone watched him curiously as he stood in front of Quatre, expression giving away the fact that he was nervous as hell. "I was going to wait until Christmas, but I refuse to loose my chance if you don't get back in time.

Quatre was about to ask what the hell was going on, when Trowa suddenly lowered himself down onto one knee.

He took Quatre's hand into his and took a deep breath before beginning.

"Oh my god…" Duo whispered, and was promptly hushed by Heero. Wufei sat frozen, completely taken by surprise.

"Quatre, I love you. And the last five years of being with you have been the best of my life. Hell, if it wasn't for you, I very likely wouldn't have a life right now."

Quatre sniffed, breath hitching as Trowa continued.

"But it's not enough. I want more than to be just your boyfriend. I want to know that you'll be with me always. That we'll spend the rest of our lives together, loving, growing, sharing everything.

By now, Quatre had tears running down his cheeks.

Trowa took one last deep breath, and took the plunge.

"Quatre Raberba Winner," he brought the small velvet box up and flipped it open, offering his love the contents. "Will you marry me?"

Quatre gasped almost painfully. He couldn't see through the tears and had to bury his head in his hands for a moment to scrub the moisture away. When he looked up again, Trowa was looking at him worriedly. He grinned and nodded, launching himself at his new fiancé. "Yes! Oh my god, Trowa. Yes!"

The two laughed and hugged each other in a death grip, breaking apart only so Trowa could slip the ring, a slim platinum band, onto Quatre's finger.

"Congratulations, you guys," Duo was grinning like an idiot. Heero smiled at them as well. "About time, Trowa."

While everyone's attention was on the newly engaged couple, Wufei got up from his couch and started making his way quietly to the door. He was happy for them, truly he was, but the pain that touching scene had just brought was threatening to undo him.

"Congratulations," he said, while he was still able to sound at least a little normal. Then he walked towards the stairs, intending to lock himself away in his room for the rest of the night. He'd done his best to put his grieving aside and stay with his friends, but watching that brought the grief rushing freshly through his system.

Treize hadn't gone down on his knee, when he'd made his own proposal to him on that very same night, four years ago, but he'd been so happy to know the other man wanted more, just like he did. Even in the face of all the hell they were almost sure to get if they weren't careful. And then, they'd been thrown into combat with one another not a few hours later, and he'd been forced to watch his lover die at his own hand.

Seeing Quatre and Trowa together, as much as he truly was happy for them, just served to taunt him with what might have been.

He might have had someone to rebuild his life with, when the fighting was done. He might have had someone with which to love and cherish the peace they'd achieved. He might have had everything he'd never had with Nataku.

But not now, and it was tearing him apart on the inside. Anger mixed with the grief. Why? Why should Quatre and Trowa get to have their happy ending, and he had nothing to show for all that he had sacrificed, as though the end of the war had never come? Nothing had changed. He was still hiding, still unable to live a normal life, still fighting. Still alone.

He had to get out of there. No matter how unfair life had been to him, Trowa and Quatre weren't to blame. Whatever happiness they could get, they deserved. And he had to make certain he didn't let the wounds of his past mar their special moment.

"Hey, 'Fei! Where're ya going?"

"To my room, Maxwell," he replied sharply, not turning around to keep them from seeing the anguish in his eyes.

Duo narrowed his eyes at the back of the Chinese agent. Something was up, and he'd be damned if he let one of Wufei's pissier attitudes ruin Quatre and Trowa's moment. Wufei might hate sappy, tender moments, but honestly, couldn't he just suck it up and deal with it for once? Especially for two of his best friends. Indignation took over, and the braided ex-pilot gave voice to that very thought.

"What's wrong, can't stand to see a little love and affection? Get over yourself Wufei, it's not a crime to show someone you care about them. You'd know that if you weren't so stuck up and cold. Honestly, no wonder you're still alone. But regardless of your incapacity in that area, don't ruin it for Quat and Tro. They deserve to be happy and show it right now."

That was it. The straw that broke the camel's back.

Anguish tore through him like a shot from one of Wing Zero's buster rifles. Was that what they thought? That he wasn't able to love or be loved? Wufei spun around, to see the glare Duo leveled in his direction, and the emotionless, scrutinizing stare of Heero. Trowa and Quatre had also come down from their high to notice the confrontation going on, and were watching him curiously too.

His eyes rested on Duo, as the braided man's look turned to one of confusion when he saw the tears running freely down Wufei's face.

All of the control and restraint he'd held over his grief shattered, and he choked back a sob.

"You don't know shit, Maxwell!" he cried, and whirled away. Fuck going to his room, he was getting out of that cabin, and away from them all.

Not bothering with coat or gloves, he flung the front door open, and disappeared into the swirling snow outside.

Duo just stared at the open door, shocked. Did he just see what he thought he did?

Suddenly Quatre cried out and clutched at his chest, collapsing in Trowa's arms. Because he'd been so focused on his own happiness and his fiancé, he hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary. But now that he was no longer distracted, his empathy was getting the full brunt of Wufei's emotional turmoil.

"Quatre!" Trowa yelped.

"Oh my god. Something's wrong," he gasped, huddling into his lover for comfort.

"I'll say," Duo said.

Quatre shook his head. "No I mean something's really wrong. We have to go after him, he's not thinking and he could hurt himself."

"Do you know what it is, Quatre," Heero asked, not understanding fully the whole situation and wanting to know more if he could before racing out after the other pilot.

"I don't know the cause, but Wufei's in so much pain. He's suffering, badly. It feels like what I felt when I thought I'd killed Trowa."

"Then let's go out there and find him before he freezes to death," Trowa said. He asked the smaller blonde in his arms, "Can you stand?"

"Yes, it's getting better now that 'Fei's further away."

"Maybe you should stay here," Heero walked over to the closet and retrieved his and Duo's coats. "Your ride's going to be here soon and you have to be ready to go."

"But—" he was cut off from continuing by Trowa's finger on his lips, hushing him.

"He's right, Quat. You need to be ready to leave so you can get finished and get back in time for Christmas," Trowa smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "We'll find him, you just concentrate on getting to headquarters and getting your job done.

Quatre sighed, not happy about having to leave his friend in such a state of distress. But he couldn't fault their logic.

"Okay, I'll stay," he sighed.

"Good," Trowa gave him a real kiss this time, which made Quatre feel immensely better. "You go pack and be ready when they come for you. We'll get Wufei and figure out what's wrong. We'll call you when we find him."

"Thanks, Trowa. Love you," Quatre hugged the Latin one more time, before he let him go so he could get his coat and join Heero and Duo who were waiting at the door. Duo handed him a flashlight and a tracer, Heero having attached one to the house so they could find each other and their way back in the storm.

"Love you too, Quat," Trowa called as they left. "See you soon."

Then they were gone, rapidly filling footprints the only evidence of their passing.

Quatre shut the door and ran up the steps to his and Trowa's room. He packed what he would need for two days, and went back downstairs to wait for his ride.

Not too long after, there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find the 'copter's copilot waiting for him.

"Let's go, the weather's just good enough that we can make it out of here, but that's not going to last long. We're taking you back to headquarters, and you're going to be put up there. The roads are supposedly beyond nasty and Une doesn't want anyone traveling on them until they've cleared up a bit."

"Okay," Quatre hefted his duffle and followed the man out into the blizzard, making sure the door was shut behind him.

It was freezing cold and almost impossible to see anything. But Wufei didn't care. He just kept running. Away from the pain, away from the loneliness, away from the guilt.

Tears blurred his vision, falling unchecked. He was done with trying to hide his grief. He just wanted to forget the pain, to forget everything.

Unbeknownst to him, the mountain stream that intersected the road to the cabin was directly in his path. Had he been able to see where he was going, he'd have angled his flight to take him over the tiny bridge that spanned it. As it was, he neither saw, nor cared, and so was taken completely by surprise when the ground suddenly dipped sharply, and he went down. Feet sliding out from underneath him on the half-frozen mud, he somersaulted and rolled a short ways before hitting the water and breaking the thin layer of ice covering it.

Fortunately for him it was shallow, and he came up sputtering and gasping at the hellish cold that assaulted him. But he couldn't find it in himself to get up. Crawling through the icy liquid, he huddled against the bricks of the bridge's underside, drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his face in them.

He couldn't do this. He couldn't live without Treize. It just wasn't fair. He'd found happiness only for it to be taken from him. Had started to live again only to be proverbially shot down. No, not just proverbially. Literally. He'd destroyed the man who was his happiness with his own weapon. Sure, he could go out and try to find someone else, but he didn't want to. He wanted Treize, and he couldn't have him. And now he got to watch his friends have everything he no longer could, while he was condemned to live out his days alone. A wraith amongst his fellows, and they didn't even know it.

They deserved their happiness; that he would never dispute. But was it so much to ask that he get to have some of his own?

Tired, cold, and still sobbing hysterically, Wufei huddled in the freezing water, unheeding of what the elements could do to him.

Truthfully, he no longer cared.

"Man, I can't believe you managed to get yourself lost. We're supposed to be finding Wufei, not each other," Trowa said as they continued the search for their missing friend.

"Heh, not my fault I dropped the tracer when I slipped. What I'd like to know is why the hell Heero even packed them in the first place," Duo shot back.

"Because I'm precognitive," Heero quipped.

Duo snorted. "Yea right. You're paranoid and we all know it. You can't stand the thought of not bringing at least some mission gear with you wherever you go."

"Hey, it's proving its usefulness now," Heero stated as they circled back towards the house.

The three ex-pilots had been out searching for their missing friend for the better part of three or four hours, which had been interrupted when Duo had slipped and lost his tracer in the snow. It was by sheer luck they'd managed to find him at all.

Now sometime after midnight, the three were really beginning to fear for their Chinese friend if he was still out there. With no coat or gloves, and only wearing those Chinese slippers that wouldn't do shit against the cold, he was risking severe hypothermia and frostbite.

"We should look over by the stream next. He could have made for the road," Trowa suggested.

"God help him if he slipped and hit the water," Duo muttered, a dark foreboding shuddering through him.

Heero felt the same. "Let's look by the bridge. He'd have to cross it; maybe he's on the bank."

With the house as their reference point, and the snowfall hitting a lull, the three located the bridge soon enough and fanned out, looking for any evidence Wufei had been there.

Duo was the first to find the skid marks from Wufei's slide down the bank. With the mud not frozen yet the snow hadn't been able to cover them completely.

"Yup, he was definitely here," Duo muttered.

Carefully they descended down until they were at the water's edge.

"Well he did fall in, and he's probably soaked," Heero said, eyeing the broken ice. "That's just going to make this worse."

"Much worse," Trowa agreed. He swung his flashlight up the other bank. It was undisturbed, which meant that if 'Fei had tried to climb out it wasn't there. While Duo and Heero swung their flashlights back and forth and resumed calling for him, Trowa stood still for a moment and tried to think as he thought Wufei would.

If he was hurting emotionally, and trying to get away from people… suddenly an idea struck him, and he swung his light around to illuminate the bridge.

He moved forward and played the light under the bridge.

His hunch paid off as it flashed over a muddied, unmoving form.

"WUFEI!" he yelled. "Guys, over here!"

Reaching the huddled body of his friend, Trowa gently tried to get a response from Wufei's motionless form.

"Wufei? Can you hear me?"

Carefully he eased the smaller man's head up off his knees, only to see dazed and barely conscious black eyes staring at him. They were red and puffy. Obviously he had cried hard until he could cry no more.

"Oh, Wufei," he whispered. Trowa turned to Heero and Duo, who crouched beside him, concern etched all over their features.

"We need to get him out of here," Heero said. He lifted one of Wufei's hands. "He's got at least mild frostbite, and he's obviously hypothermic."

"I'll carry him. Just help me up the bank," Trowa said.

Heero nodded. Together they managed to get out of the streambed without incident, and then the race was on to get Wufei back to the house and thawed out.

**~*~TBC...~*~**


	5. Part 5

**All I Want For Christmas Is You**

***Author*****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Rating*****:** PG-13 (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)

***Disclaimer*****:** I am not the owner of Gundam Wing, only the story premise of this particular fanfic. This is a not-for-profit fanwork done by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans, nothing more.

***Warnings*****:** Yaoi (gay romance)

***Pairings*****:** Treize/Wufei (main), Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

***Timeline*****:** The little blurb at the beginning takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So, I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I forget everyone's age in cannon when the series ended. I know they were 15 at the start of Operation Meteor, but I totally don't remember how long the war lasted. I seem to recall something that they were stil 15… O_o? Too young for my purposes, so I simply decided that it made sense for the war to take a few years (more logical to me considering its scale than this idea that the whole thing ended in 12 months). Thus in this fic the pilots were 19 at the war's conclusion, which puts them all at 23 at the start of the story. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.

***Feedback*****:** Yes please, but no flames. If you don't like the story go find something you do like rather than wasting the time writing something I'm only going to ignore. Constructive criticism however, is welcome, and I'm always open to it.

***Summary*****: **They were enemies on the battlefield, and spent their time basking in newfound love when no one was looking. Before the war's end Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together, should both survive its conclusion. Then came the fateful battle where Treize was killed by Wufei's hand. Four years later Wufei's still grieving, not knowing that Treize never died. Miraculously he survived, but has remained hidden, not willing to face the pilot only to find Wufei's over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?

**A/N****: **And here at long last is the first of the final three chapters. It's out of season, but hey, better luck next time, ne? Thank you all so much for your patience, those of you who didn't give up on me. And for any returning reviewers, the review responses for parts 1-4 (formerly posted together as chapter 1) are located at the end of this chapter.

**~*~Part 5~*~**

Treize fought back nervousness as he rode the elevator up to the thirteenth floor of the building, where Lady Une's office was located. How much had she changed after four years? And how would things be between them, now that they were no longer leader and subordinate?

Still, he mused as he stepped out, and followed the hall to where the desk clerk downstairs had said he would find her office, she'd looked and sounded enough like the Lady he remembered that they shouldn't have much trouble, if any, picking up where they'd left off. Since he'd been unable to travel in the horrid weather the night before, they'd simply settled for catching up for a while on the phone, and pushed their dinner date back a day.

As he went he began reading the names on the doors, looking for hers. He was told the Commander's office didn't look any different from the others, so he'd have to just go by nameplate.

Many of the doors sported more than one name, since partners almost never had separate offices. He felt a twinge as he spotted the names 'Barton, Trowa and Winner, Quatre R.' on one door, and 'Yuy, Heero and Maxwell, Duo', on the next. On the door across the hall was a plaque with the name 'Chang, Wufei' etched on it. He couldn't help but stop and stare for a moment. He knew that the ex-pilot was away right now, but he couldn't help the bittersweet feeling of being so close in a sense to him.

Shaking off feelings that were better left alone, he continued down the hall until he finally located Une's office. Lightly rapping on the door, he waited until her voice on the other side invited him in.

"Treize!" she said joyously, getting up from her seat and coming over to give him a hug. He willingly obliged her, not about to push away an old friend he should have reunited with years ago.

The embrace lasted a moment, before she pulled free and slapped him.

"You bastard. How dare you not tell me you were alive!"

Treize rubbed at his cheek. "I guess I deserved that."

"Well, as long as you don't pull a stunt like that again, I suppose I can forgive you," she said. "But that aside, I wanted to ask you something, and I might as well do it now before someone interrupts us. I wanted to wait until I saw you in person to bring it up."

"And what is it?" Treize asked.

"First of all, now that you're back, if you would join the Preventers Special Ops?"

"You want me to be a Preventers agent?" Treize asked, surprised.

"Yes. Your talents are wasted on retirement, and you need something to do with your life," Une said.

"Truly Lady, that offer is very interesting, but I have my reservations about it," Treize responded.

Une nodded knowingly. "Ah, the Gundam pilots, is it? Well first off, if they start in on you about anything, just come to me and I'll deal with it. All of that crap is in the past and bears no consequence on this job. Or, if it's Chang that has your boxers in a twist, well, I think you'll find him a little more welcoming than you're expecting."

"They're not the only ones, but tell me… What does Chang Wufei have to do with anything?" Treize kept his voice neutral.

"Oh please, Treize. I know you two have feelings for one another. Anyone with a brain who knows both of you could put two and two together. Especially this time of year, when Wufei's grieving is at its all-time high," she said.

"Grieving?" Treize asked, a little confused. Why would he be grieving? Hadn't Heero said he'd moved on?

"Yes, grieving," Une said. "Heero, I think, gave you the wrong impression. I am correct in my assumption that you and Wufei had a little romance going behind everyone's backs?"

Treize almost blushed. "We weren't physically intimate, but yes. We loved each other, and the night that I was reportedly killed," he shuddered at that word. "I'd asked Wufei if he'd come stay with me after the war if we both survived, and continue our relationship publicly. He accepted."

"Ahh, I see," Lady Une was at least a little relieved that had things had gone differently her friend wouldn't have kept her in the dark any longer than was necessary. "Well, I think first off that the situation is a little different than you believe."

"How so?"

"First of all, Chang has never once said anything, at least not that I know of, to anyone about you two having been together during the war. And I don't think he's as over you as you think. Just before he left for the Alps with the others I confronted him about how he tends to get very sullen and withdrawn around this time of year, and he told me he lost someone very dear to him just before Christmas," she smiled softly. "He still misses you, Treize."

Treize ducked his head, as hope sparked ever so slightly in him. "But is he seeing anyone?"

Une snorted. "I doubt it. The other pilots are forever on his case for not being interested in finding someone."

Treize put his face in his hands and swiped at his eyes to clear his suddenly blurry vision. He felt as though a darkness had lifted from his soul, and he felt more alive than he ever had for the past four years. Wufei missed him, and he was still single.

Treize still had a chance to get him back.

Finally he looked up, though his eyes were a little misty. "So you think I still have a chance?"

"Yes I do," Une smiled. "And I hope you'll consider my offer to join the Preventers. You don't have to give me your answer now, but I have a very talented Chinese agent who's giving me one hell of a time trying to find a suitable partner for him."

Treize cocked an eyebrow. "You'd let us be partners? But what about our relationship?"

"So long as it doesn't affect your work or missions, I'm willing to overlook that fact," Une said.

"Thank you, I definitely will think about it," Treize agreed, but was prevented from saying more by a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Une called.

The door swung open and Quatre stepped in, duffel in hand. "I'm just letting you—Treize?"

"Nice to see you too, Winner," he remarked.

"What are you doing here?" Quatre demanded, the call to Heero flashing through his mind.

"He's here as my guest, Agent Winner," Lady Une said, giving him a pointed look that said quite plainly that he was to behave and be nice to the former Oz leader, like it or not.

"Ahh, I see. Well I just came by to tell you that I'm leaving to go back to Trowa and the others," the blonde stated.

Une shook her head. "No you're not."

"What!" the young Arab was dismayed at the thought of having to be away from his fiancé one moment longer than necessary. "Why ever not?"

The Preventer Commander smiled. "You haven't shown me your ring yet, and I insist on seeing it before you go."

Quatre laughed. "Lady, you have one cruel sense of humor."

He stepped up to her desk and held out his hand, so that both she and Treize could see it.

"Very lovely," Une gave her approval. "And you are now free to go as you please."

"Who's the lucky man?" Treize asked, politely asking although he was almost certain he already knew.

"Trowa Barton. We were dating before the war ended, and he asked me the night before last, in case I didn't get home in time for him to do it on Christmas," Quatre said.

"Well you have my sincere congratulations," Treize said.

Quatre nodded. "Thank you." Then a startled look came over his features, smoothing out as he turned to Lady Une. "I almost forgot. Have you gotten any calls from the others? They were supposed to call me, but never did."

Une shook her head. "No, they haven't. Why? Did something happen?"

"Well, yea," Quatre looked uncomfortable, but finished explaining anyway. He knew full well Une would settle for nothing less. "When Trowa proposed to me, Wufei got up to leave, and wouldn't even look at us when he gave us his blessing. Duo confronted him about it, said that even though he was stuck up and cold and lacking in the love department, that he shouldn't be that way just because me and Trowa were happy."

Treize bit down a growl. Who the fuck did this little desert rat think he was talking about? The only think lacking in the love department at the moment was his ass.

And soon to be the blonde's as well, once Treize was done kicking it and wreaking Wufei-style justice for the slander to his lover.

Une noticed this, and made a mental note to make sure the safety was _off _her gun as she listened to the rest of Quatre's story.

"And he just turned around and, oh Allah, he was crying. I've _never_ seen Wufei cry. And he yelled 'You don't know shit, Maxwell!' and ran out the door and into the storm. No coat, no gloves or hat, and only those Chinese slippers he loves for shoes. Right before I left Trowa, Heero and Duo went out to after him, and were supposed to call me when they found him. But they haven't, and I'm getting worried."

"And why wasn't I informed of this sooner?" Une was worried too. Both about her agent being lost in a blizzard in such inadequate attire, and that Treize was going to kill the Winner family heir before she managed to get a shot off and break them up.

"Umm, because until the others either find him or call for a search team to help there's nothing any of us can do?" It was a lame excuse, and they both knew it. Truth was that between helping that other team salvage their mission, worry over Wufei, and obsessing over getting back to his lover—scratch that—_fiancé_, the ex-Sandrock pilot had completely forgot that Lady Une should have been made aware of the situation upon his arrival. Quatre, now finished with his narrative, was also aware of the dark glare being leveled at him by the room's other occupant, and simply stared at Treize, confused.

The question riding on the tip of his tongue was stalled though, as his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Quat? Hey it's Duo." His voice moved away for a moment, and Quatre heard him call out, _"Hey Heero, the phones are working!"_ then he was back again.

"Sorry it's taken so long, but the storm knocked out the phone lines. Even the cell towers were fucked up. Anyway, it took us about four hours, but we found 'Fei."

"How is he?" Quatre asked.

He could hear Duo sigh. "Not good. Physically he's not so bad off. Hypothermia and mild frostbite that's already looking a hell of a lot better. But it's his behavior that's got us all spooked."

"How so?"

"Well, he won't talk, just gives us this dead look whenever we get his attention, which isn't easy. Plus he won't eat anything. Heero had to practically force feed him. And he's just, well, suffering. Just like you said. He even starts crying at random. Granted he's silent about it, but still since when does Wufei ever cry?"

"He doesn't. Look, I'm in Une's office saying goodbye now. I'll be on the next available chopper out there, okay? Then we can figure out a way to help Wufei," Quatre reassured him.

"Gotcha buddy. Okay, I'm hanging up then. Later, Quat."

"Bye," Quatre disconnected the call, only to be met by Lady Une's fierce gaze.

"I demand to know just what that conversation was about, Agent Winner."

Treize looked like he would accept nothing less as well, and so Quatre repeated what Duo had told him.

The former Epyon pilot gave Lady Une a determined yet regretful look. "I'm going. My apologies for having to delay our dinner once again, Lady Une."

"No, this time I'm going to insist you cancel and go look after your lover," she replied. "Otherwise I'm going to have to go hunt down Chang's sword and come after you with it."

Treize smiled, though the dialogue between the two friends was interrupted by Quatre.

"Wait just a moment! What do you mean, you're coming? And what the hell lover are you talking about? And since when did you ever care so much about Wufei?" he demanded to know.

Une sighed, and looked at Treize. "I think your days of secrecy are over."

"Fine by me," Treize said.

"Do you want to tell him, or should I?"

"You," he replied. "He's more likely to believe you."

"Tell me what?" Quatre demanded.

Une turned to address him. "That you and the other pilots have made a very big mistake."

Quatre frowned. "What mistake?"

Lady Une cleared her throat and after looking to Treize for final consent, which he gave with a nod of his head, proceeded to explain. "Yes Wufei and Treize both fought for opposite sides in the war, and performed exceptionally, but that's where what you and the other pilots have come to believe about their relationships ends its truthfulness. At some point, the two of them formed a relationship not altogether unlike the one between you and Trowa. On the battlefield they remained rivals, and no, they didn't share any secrets regarding their respective affiliates, but off the battlefield they were dating. More so than that, Quatre, they fell in love."

The ex-Sandrock pilot felt lightheaded at that statement, on top of already feeling very shell-shocked.

Treize and Wufei were in love? They'd been dating all that time, and Wufei had never said anything? Though, come to think of it, it would make sense that Wufei had never looked to find someone to be with, if he was already in love.

And wait… that would explain why he'd always been so sullen around the holidays. He was mourning the anniversary of his lover's death!

The elation at the possibility that this was the answer to the riddle they'd been searching for evaporated as he remembered the pain he'd felt from the other pilot, and how much he must have suffered for all these years, thinking the one he loved was dead, and that he'd been the cause. Quatre knew that feeling, knew it all too well, and he couldn't imagine going through it for as long as Wufei had.

Suddenly a surge of protectiveness swelled in the young man, and he rounded on Treize.

"Is this true? Are you really in love with him?"

The older man nodded. "Yes, Quatre. I'm in love with Wufei."

Quatre nodded. "Okay. And just what do you plan on doing about it?"

Treize frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?

Quatre snorted. "You've been alive all this time, and you left him alone to suffer the agony of believing the love of his life was dead, and he was to blame. Why Treize? Before I let you near him, I need to know you won't hurt him again."

"Well, the first year was hardly my fault, I was in a coma. After that I went through rehab, and trust me; I was one hell of a son of a bitch during that time. You wouldn't have wanted to be around me. After that," he shrugged. "I got scared. So much time had passed; I was afraid he'd moved on, and that I'd just be hurting him more by coming back and putting his life in turmoil again. Then Yuy confirmed that when I called. Though, apparently not in the way he made it sound."

His blue eyes took on a sharper edge then. "And as far as hurting him goes, you have no grounds for such a fear. I'm going with you and telling Wufei I'm alive. I'm ending this nonsense, and provided he's willing, and maybe even if he's not, I'm going to start seeing him again, and there's not a thing any of you can do to stop me."

Quatre nodded in approval. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. And you can be certain I'll be making certain you do just that."

Treize smiled, getting up from his seat. He froze for a moment and then cursed softly, a very un-Treize like action indeed.

"Fuck, I don't have anything packed."

"Got you covered," Une said, pulling a fully stocked duffle out from behind her desk. "I was hoping something like this would happen, and so I called Noin and had her drop this off earlier," she explained.

"Une, you are a godsend," Treize came around the desk to wrap her in a tight hug. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Now, go make that man of yours happy," she replied, shooing him away.

Treize slung the duffle on his shoulder, after quickly donning his coat. "Well, let's go catch that 'copter."

"Heero's going to freak," Quatre muttered.

"Merry Christmas," he called back over his shoulder to Lady Une. Treize echoed him a moment later.

"Merry Christmas you two," she returned. "And Merry Christmas Wufei. Boy is this going to be the Christmas present to end all Christmas presents."

**~*~TBC…~*~**

**A/N****: **Well it was a long time coming, but here it is. Fantastic thing is that even after all this time I really couldn't find much that needed tweaking. Woot! Only two chapters left to go, and this time they won't be forgotten. ^_^ See you in a few days for part 6. Shall we say… Wednesday?

***Review Responses*****: These are to the reviews that were not signed. Signed reviews I answer with PMs. **

JAC- Oh no, I hope during all this time you got off the chair and found other fun things to read, lol. Thanks, and to you as well, if you're reading this then I hope you enjoy the update.

Me- Lol, the rest of it's been posted in full (though not edited… must remedy that) on Aff . net under the same fic and author name. But now I've finally stopped being lazy and brought the rest of it here.

Rita- Whohoo! Another person who believes as I do that they were more than crushing on each other. *grin* And yea, if Wufei could spend so long grieving over Meilan, whom he didn't even realize he actually cared so deeply for until she was dying in his arms, then him getting over the man he actually had a budding romance with and killed in battle himself? Not a chance. Hope this part was worth the wait for you.

GalynSolo- Okay, there's a part of me that 'lolz' at the fact that this update's going up almost exactly a year after your review. Just went two days over. I'm not being mean, just finding humor in irony since I totally didn't plan the timing of the update or anything. More like I posted a new fic for another fandom and went "hey, I never put up the rest of the Gundam fic!". Lol, total accident, but interesting how it worked out. To me, anyways, but then again my sense of humor's a bit weird. I don't think I can claim that you got to read the ending "soon". But at least you can read it… in two more chapters. ^_^U


	6. Part 6

**All I Want For Christmas Is You**

***Author*****:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Rating*****:** PG-13 (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)

***Disclaimer*****:** I am not the owner of Gundam Wing, only the story premise of this particular fanfic. This is a not-for-profit fanwork done by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans, nothing more.

***Warnings*****:** Yaoi (gay romance)

***Pairings*****:** Treize/Wufei (main), Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

***Timeline*****:** The little blurb at the beginning takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So, I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I forget everyone's age in cannon when the series ended. I know they were 15 at the start of Operation Meteor, but I totally don't remember how long the war lasted. I seem to recall something that they were stil 15… O_o? Too young for my purposes, so I simply decided that it made sense for the war to take a few years (more logical to me considering its scale than this idea that the whole thing ended in 12 months). Thus in this fic the pilots were 19 at the war's conclusion, which puts them all at 23 at the start of the story. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.

***Feedback*****:** Yes please, but no flames. If you don't like the story go find something you do like rather than wasting the time writing something I'm only going to ignore. Constructive criticism however, is welcome, and I'm always open to it.

***Summary*****: **They were enemies on the battlefield, and spent their time basking in newfound love when no one was looking. Before the war's end Wufei and Treize promised they'd be together, should both survive its conclusion. Then came the fateful battle where Treize was killed by Wufei's hand. Four years later Wufei's still grieving, not knowing that Treize never died. Miraculously he survived, but has remained hidden, not willing to face the pilot only to find Wufei's over him. Will this Christmas see them finally together?

**A/N****: ***Grin* I'm back! See guys? Right on schedule. Okay, so I'm not going to bore you with a long author's note, but I am going to warn you that this is the beginning of some very sugary fluffiness ahead. Grab your toothbrushes everyone, you might need them. ^_^ Enjoy.

**~*~Part 6~*~**

"C'mon 'Fei, you gotta eat something buddy."

'Why bother?' Wufei reclined against the mound of pillows that propped him up in bed, staring blankly at the wall.

Who cared if he ate or not? He didn't. He was done, finished. He had no desire to eat, drink and be merry like he was 'supposed to'. He was tired, and drained, and just done. All he wanted to do was go to sleep, and stay there. Normally he would have wished to wake up and find this all to be a nightmare, but he was too far gone even for that. No, no more pretending everything was fine. He was hurting, and he damn well refused to stuff it in anymore.

Duo tried offering him the spoon of warm broth again, but Wufei simply turned his face away completely, while the rest of him remained unmoving.

The former Deathsythe pilot sighed in frustration. He looked helplessly behind him at his lover. "What do we do?"

"Short of sticking him on a feeding tube, which we have no way of doing here, I don't know," Heero confessed.

Duo looked sadly back at the ex-05 pilot. "I'm so sorry, 'Fei. Whatever it is that's going on, I wish you'd tell us. We'd do anything we could to help."

"Short of putting your curse to use, Maxwell, I doubt that you could," Wufei whispered, the first he's spoken since they'd found him.

Duo frowned. "Oh hell no, 'Fei-man. You ain't getting off that easy."

But Wufei was done talking. Onyx eyes closed, and he promptly ignored them, as the choppy whir of a helicopter came into hearing.

"Quatre!" Trowa, who'd been watching the entire exchange from near the door, scrambled out of the room and down the stairs, beyond eager to hold his fiancé in his arms again. It would more than salvage this disastrous Christmas Eve for him.

He flung open the door, only to stop dead, eyes going wide at the sight of the man walking up the steps next to Quatre.

"You…"

"Yes, yes. It's me," Treize said, waving off the other's shock. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's someone I need to go see."

Trowa snapped out of his shock and moved to bar the door. "No, I won't let you near him."

"Trowa, it's okay," Quatre rushed to reassure his fiancé, and get him out of the way before Treize simply shoved him aside, or tore him to pieces. After spending the entirety of a helicopter ride with the man and seeing firsthand how desperate and anxious he was to get to Wufei, all Quatre wanted to do was just herd everyone out of his way, and leave him and his lover be.

"How is this okay, Quatre?" Trowa asked, as they followed Treize two steps at a time to the third floor and Wufei's room, both of the newly arrived shedding their winter gear as they went.

"Because we got it all wrong, Tro. Treize and Wufei were only rivals to cover up the fact that they're really lovers," Quatre explained, giving him the abridged version of the story for the moment.

Trowa almost tripped on the steps. "They're what!"

"Believe me, it's true. I'll explain it in more detail later. First we have to keep Heero and Duo from being killed for getting in Treize's way," Quatre hurried to keep up with the taller European man.

They reached the third floor landing, and Treize made a beeline for the only door visible, since the third floor only had one room. Quatre broke into a run and jumped in front of him.

"Wait! Let me go first and get Duo and Heero to clear out. They won't argue so much about it if I tell them to leave. If you barge through there they're most likely going to think you mean harm to Wufei."

Treize looked vexed, but saw the logic in the statement and nodded. Quatre felt relieved, and wasted no time in marching to the door and opening it.

"Hey guys," he said to the three occupants.

"Hello Quatre," Heero said.

"Hey, Quat!" Duo grinned. "Glad to see you made it. What's with the stampede of elephants coming up the stairs? Don't tell me you brought some of Trowa's friends back with you."

"No, but I brought someone Wufei would very much like to see, I think. I'm just going to need you two to clear on out of here and let them have their reunion while I explain everything downstairs," Quatre replied.

"Who did you bring?" Heero asked warily, not sure if he was comfortable with the request.

"His lover," Quatre said, as he stepped aside to let Treize into the room.

Wufei couldn't have cared less when the faint remnants of a commotion had reached his ears, and multiple pairs of feet could be heard running up the stairs. However it was the words coming from Quatre's mouth that sparked his interest, particularly when Quatre said the words 'his lover'.

What lover?

Slowly he opened his eyes and turned his head to the door.

Only to be met by a ghost.

A very solid-looking ghost who in three strides was there kneeling next to his bedside.

"Oh, Wufei," Treize tried not to cry, but was quickly loosing the battle at the sight of his sick lover. Right now all the love and longing that had been bottled up for so long was surfacing fast, and he was virtually helpless against the tide.

Wufei was shocked and speechless. Tentatively he reached out a hand, and touched Treize's face with his fingertips. He was solid. He was warm. He was…

"You're alive?"

"Yes, my Dragon. I am. And I've come back for you, just like I promised. That is, if you still want me back," Treize would die if Wufei said no, but he would sacrifice himself a million times if it meant Wufei would be happy. Never before in his life had he ever said anything so ridiculously sappy either, but for the present time, he couldn't care less.

"You're here," Wufei just couldn't believe it. All these years of wanting this moment so badly, and now he just didn't know what to do with it. Then, reflex and personality kicked in.

His right hand, the less frostbitten and subsequently less painful hand at the moment, curled into a fist, and quicker than anyone could react, launched itself at Treize's face.

The former Oz leader's head snapped to one side as he reeled back. Who else but Chang Wufei could put so much power into a strike while barely sitting up in bed?

As he regained his balance, he suddenly found it threatening to leave him altogether, as Wufei seemingly forgot all about the pain and stiffness of his body, and launched himself at Treize, latching onto him in a death grip, murmuring into his ear.

"You bastard. Four years. Four fucking years and I had to suffer thinking you were dead. You'd better have a good excuse for this Kushrenada, or I swear we'll be finding out if it's possible for me to never let you go and still kick your ass at the same time."

Treize laughed, wrapping one arm around the Chinese man and cupping the back of his head with the other, running his fingers through the midnight colored strands.

"So long as I never have to let go either Wufei. Oh, god I've missed you. I love you, Dragon. I love you. I don't ever want to be away from you again." More extreme sappiness, and still he couldn't bring himself to give a damn if he sounded like a love-struck fool. He was one, so it didn't matter.

"You'd better not ever leave me, or I really will kill you. I love you too, Treize. More than anything," Wufei then broke down into tears once again, though this time they were tears he'd never thought he'd cry in a million years. Tears of happiness. And Treize was only a few seconds behind before he joined Wufei.

From the door, three astonished ex-Gundam pilots, and one very happy one, watched the tearful reunion. Finally it was Quatre who broke them out of their frozen state.

"Let's go downstairs and let them have some time to themselves. I'll explain everything over hot chocolate."

Ten minutes later, Quatre was serving the hot drinks to the other three pilots as they once again settled down on the couches in front of the fire.

"Okay, Quat. I think it's time for that explanation now. I know I for one want to know how the fuck that scene upstairs came about," Duo said.

Quatre sighed and proceeded to retell the entire story to them. By the time he was finished, Duo looked dumbfounded, Heero looked as though he couldn't figure out how they missed this, and Trowa simply sat there blinking, as though he was trying and failing to wrap his mind around the idea of Treize and Wufei as a couple.

"I can't believe we never picked up on this during the war," Heero finally voiced the thought most prominent in his mind at the moment.

"They pulled it off perfectly. They saw each other when it was convenient, and then fought like they were true enemies whenever they met in battle," Quatre said. "According to Treize, he and Wufei were never lovers like me and Trowa, or you and Duo are. They've never even kissed. They kept physical contact to a minimum to allow themselves an alibi should they be caught, and supposedly an emotional detachment from never actually having been lovers so they'd have an easier time getting over it should one get killed, or in case they had to hurt one another in battle or on a mission."

"Damn," Duo said. "And yet Treize's 'death' still hurt him that badly?"

Trowa frowned. "For all their efforts, it seems they failed pretty spectacularly at trying to keep their distance from one another if they still managed to become that close."

"You're right. But I think it's better for Wufei. At least now he won't be lonely, and there's nothing holding them back from having a real romance now…"

Quatre was cut off by Duo's snort. "Nothing holding them back? You sound like you're totally okay with the fact that Wufei could have gotten us all killed! He betrayed us, dammit! I don't care if they slept together or not, he put our lives and our chances of winning all in jeopardy, and I can't condone that."

Quatre sighed. "I don't condone what he did either, going behind our backs and putting us all in so much danger. But you can't say that he wasn't at least responsible enough to keep the missions and battles his first priority."

"I still would have shot both of them if I'd have known," Heero muttered.

"Which is precisely the reason he didn't say anything about it to anyone," Quatre shot back.

"What I think we have to be focused more on isn't the past, but what's going to happen now that they're together," Trowa spoke up.

"Shit. I don't suppose there's a way we can break the two of them up now, huh?" Duo asked. "Fei'd either kill us, or pack up and leave for good."

"I hate to say it, but you're right," Heero groused. "And since the war is over, we have no grounds for doing so either."

Trowa sighed. "This is going to be one very interesting Christmas."

**~*~TBC...~*~**

**A/N****: **Yay they're back together! Anyone else get a cavity? I know I almost did. But it's not over yet. Let's see just how interesting Christmas morning gets, ne? Next and last chapter will be going up… Sunday or Monday, I think. And after that I'll be getting to work on the sequel. Teehee. If Wufei and Treize thought that it was just going to be a textbook fairytale ending… guess again. ^_^

Review Responses:

All responses have been sent by PM. Thank you to everyone who's been kind enough to review. Please, keep letting me know what you think!

~Whip~


	7. Part 7

***Title*:** All I Want For Christmas Is You  
***Author*:** WhipOfLightHeartOfSword

***Disclaimer*:** Gundam Wing and its characters and original story belong to their original creators, not me, and this story is nothing more than a fan-work made by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans. No money is, has, or ever will be made off this fic.  
***Rating*:** T (Sorry guys, no lemon this time around. Just WAFF. The juicy, naughty stuff's being saved for the sequel. ^_~)  
***Timeline*:** The little blurb in Part 1 takes place just before Trieze was killed. It's been some time since I've watched the series, even more so since I've seen Endless Waltz. So I kinda threw cannon to the wind and made the timeline suit my purposes. I never thought it made much sense that the whole thing supposedly took place in a single year, so I decided to spread things out more and say that the pilots were 19 when the war ended, which puts them all at 23 in this fic. Treize I've settled on as being 32 years old.  
***Feedback*:** Of course! Constructive criticiscm only, though. NO FLAMES.

***Warning*:** Yaoi. don't like, don't read. You've been warned.

**A/N June 2011:** Wow it's been a long time, and I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting again. This fic hasn't gotten a tremendous amount of interest and so I ended up sidetracked by other projects. Which I can't say I'm totally surprised at since this _is_ a Christmas fic and, well, I never _did_ get around to posting it at the appropriate time of year. The sequel won't be holiday-centric, so hopefully it won't keep getting shoved to the side by my muse like this one has. For those of you interested in reading about the fallout of Treize's return and how his and Wufei's relationship fares in the public eye, let me know! Otherwise I can't promise it'll remain high on my priority list when I've got other projects keeping me busy.

But that aside, I do have to put another disclaimer on this final chapter: it's still pretty sugary, though not as bad as the last one. Still, keep your toothbrushes on standby and enjoy!

**~*~ Part 7 ~*~  
**

Wufei wasn't one of those people who took their slow, sweet time waking up. For him it was a very fluid, quick change. He was simply asleep one moment, and awake the next.  
That morning was no exception. Once again he found himself warm and toasty, if still a bit sore from the light frostbite his little venture out into the blizzard had caused. Pain slapped him in the heart, as he once again found himself facing the day watching his friends live their "fairytale" endings with one another, while his mourning continued.

He shifted to find a more comfortable position, and froze as someone's arm—definitely not his own—tightened around his waist to keep him in place.

Onyx-colored eyes snapped open wide, and Wufei yelped, thoroughly startled. He shot up and grabbed the knife he kept hidden under his pillow, bringing it around as he turned with every intention of slitting the intruder's throat for daring to come near him while he was sleeping.

He was stopped short, and felt his grasp on the hilt of the weapon falter as the identity of his bedmate slammed into his brain full-force. He gasped like a fish stranded on dry land as Treize, woken by his boyfriend's sudden and violent movements, smiled softly—if a bit lethargically—in amusement at him.

"It's okay, Wufei. It's just me. You can put the knife away now."

Fingers suddenly limp; the young man barely registered the sound of the weapon hitting the floor as it dropped from his hand. Numbly, he sank back down into Treize's waiting arms, feeling surreal as they tightened around him, and he pillowed his head in the hollow of the former Oz leader's shoulder.

"Is this a dream?" he whispered. Vividly memories from the night before came rushing back of Treize coming into his room to tell him that the assumptions he was dead were completely false. But the former pilot was loath to believe it, just in case his mind was playing a cruel game with him.

Treize tightened his arms around his smaller love's body and smiled. "No, Wufei, it's not. I'm back, and I'm staying this time."

Wufei snuggled into him, as if they could possibly get any closer than they already were. "I know. I don't want to think for a moment that I'm being delusional. It's just that…"

He trailed off for a moment, trying to decide on the best way to iterate how he felt. "If this was really just a dream, then it would be so much easier to take if you left, because I'd be expecting it."

Treize frowned, and lifted Wufei's chin and turned his head so they could look each other in the eye. "Is that what you think? That I'm going to leave you?"

Wufei sighed. "I don't know what to think. This just all seems too easy. I wanted more than anything for you to either come back to life, or for myself to die, so I could be with you. And now all of a sudden, here you are, telling me that all these years I've been missing you, you were alive."

"Do you want me to leave?" Treize asked. He could understand where Wufei was coming from. He should have been a man instead of a chicken and called his lover the moment he was out of rehab. But no, he waited an additional two years, and now his younger lover was understandably afraid to trust him.

Wufei's breath hitched at the thought of once again loosing the most precious person in the world to him. He shook his head roughly. "No, dammit. If you leave I'll just hunt you down. And probably kill you for hurting me again," he added as an afterthought.

His lover smiled at that. "Good, because I don't think I could tear myself away from you if I tried."

Wufei snuggled back down, grinning softly and contentedly. "So, where do we go from here?"

He couldn't see the flash of nervousness and indecision that marred Treize's face for a moment. The former Oz leader opened his mouth to speak, but was then cut off as the sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs grabbed the attention of both men.

A fist pounded on the other side of the door, a voice accompanying it. "Hey, guys! Come on and get downstairs. A. It's Christmas, B. breakfast is ready, and C. we're going to open presents, so let's go!"

"Give us a moment, Maxwell," Wufei growled, not happy that his time alone with Treize had been disrupted.

"Feh, fine!" Duo called back. "More food for me then!"

And with that he was gone, feet pounding at breakneck speed down the stairwell to the first floor, where he presumably rejoined the others.

Treize chuckled as he watched the irritation on his Dragon's face. "I think a trip downstairs might not be a bad idea, Wufei. From what I heard from Quatre, you gave everyone quite the scare. I think you owe it to them to at least put in an appearance and thank them."

Wufei sighed. "I also owe Quatre and Trowa an apology. I disrupted a very special moment for them."

"I'm sure they'll understand," Treize comforted him. "So long as you don't pull a stunt like that at their wedding."

Now it was the Chinese man's turn to chuckle, at the thought of what the others might do to him if he did such a thing. He quickly stopped laughing and shivered.

The possibilities weren't pretty.

"Come on," Treize said, sitting up and taking the ex-Gundam pilot with him.

Leaving his nice cocoon of warmth behind did not sound—or feel, as the cold air hit his skin—like a good idea. But his boyfriend was insistent, so he sucked it up and threw the covers away from his body.

Treize had already pulled his robe from his duffel and stood waiting for Wufei. While the pilot was preoccupied with removing himself from his comfort zone, the ex-soldier retrieved a small package from the pocket of the pants he'd worn the night before, and tucked it away inside his robe before Wufei could see it. Then looked to see if his lover had risen yet.

However the Chinese pilot hadn't taken into account that his body was still suffering from the aftermath of frostbite. After only a couple of days, his feet and hands were still sore, making walking and basic functioning a more difficult task than usual. It would subside soon enough, but in the interim, it was quite irritating not to be able to walk without having to fight the grimace that tried to display itself and give away just how much pain he was in.

When the younger man took a step away from the bed and winced, Treize's eyes narrowed a little. By the time Wufei had reached the other's side, the European was trying not to show too much of his increasing concern. He knew how much Wufei hated others fussing over him, and so he was trying to allow him the chance to get around on his own.

But when Wufei opened the door and almost went completely off-balance because of one particular twinge, he had to take some action. True, he wanted to respect his love's space, but he'd be doing him no good if he allowed him to continue and fall headlong down the stairs.

He was quite sure the house's other occupants would make the rest of his life very short and painful for that.

So he reached out and caught the small oriental man around the waist, spinning him sideways so he could sweep one arm up behind his knees and catch his upper body with the other as he fell backwards.

"Treize! What are you doing?" Wufei squeaked as he was lifted and carried bridal style carefully down the stairs. "Put me down, you're going to make us both fall!"

"Have a little more faith in me, will you?" Treize whispered in his ear. "I've been away from you for four years; allow me to pamper you a little."

Wufei huffed. "Must 'pampering' consist of treating me like an onna, though?"

Treize laughed, and stepped off the last stair and onto the main floor. "When I start painting your toenails for you, then you can accuse me of treating you like an onna."

His young love shuddered at the mental picture that statement gave him. "I'd kill you."

"I think I'd have to kill me too," Treize agreed.

To Wufei's horror, rather than putting him down once they were off the stairs, Treize carried him into the kitchen, where the rest of the pilots were enjoying breakfast.

Heero's fork clattered to his plate when he saw the fierce oriental pilot cradled in the arms of their enemy. Or… what the hell was he supposed to call Treize now?

Trowa sat with his own utensil frozen midair between his plate and his mouth. He didn't gape at the two like Heero did, but he still gave them an incredulous stare. Since when did Wufei ever tolerate someone treating him like pampered royalty? Relena he'd expect to see something like this from, but not Wufei.

Quatre, once he'd gotten over his initial shock at the sight, smiled brightly. He could tell Chang was a bit uncomfortable at having people see him like this, but was ultimately too happy to have his lover back to put up with too much of an argument if it meant he got to stay close to him. It gave the blonde great pleasure to feel such happy emotions coming from his Chinese friend, as opposed to the melancholy that before had almost dominated his heart whenever he wasn't angry or irritated at someone. He understood why the other pilots weren't at all happy having Treize in their midst. But if they'd had his empathy they'd realize just how happy he and Wufei made each other. In Quatre's mind, that was what mattered the most. So long as Treize never raised a finger against any of them again, and never hurt Wufei, he would accept their relationship with open arms.

Duo, on the other hand, was less preoccupied with the oddity of seeing Wufei being carried to the breakfast table, and more focused on the fact that everyone was now awake and out of bed.

"Okay everyone, dishes in the sink! It's time to go open gifts!" to emphasize his point, he grabbed his and Heero's plates and left the table.

"Hey, I was eating that!" Heero protested as his unfinished egg was dumped unceremoniously in the garbage disposal.

"Not anymore," Duo chirped, as he grabbed his lover's and Trowa's hands and dragged them with him into the front room, where the tree was set up, gifts piled beneath it.

Quatre smiled apologetically and Wufei and Treize as he gathered the rest of the dishes and placed them on the counter to be reheated later, rather than let the food be wasted. "Sorry guys, looks like you'll have to wait until after the gifts are open to eat."

"That's okay, I'm perfectly content with coffee, for the moment," Treize replied as he finally set Wufei down so he could prepare them both a cup.

"Tea for me, if you don't mind," Wufei told him. Fortunately there was still some hot water left in the kettle Quatre had boiled earlier, so they were able to join the others before Duo could come back in and drag them by their ears for making him wait.

"I'm sorry if we don't have anything for you," Wufei said softly.

Treize shook his head and wrapped an arm around his younger love. "I have you back Wufei, and I was able to keep my promise that I would come for you when the war was done. That's more than I ever expected to get."

"I can't say I disagree with you," Wufei smiled as they both stretched out next to each other on the loveseat, him snuggling up to his love and leaning his head against Treize's shoulder and closing his eyes contentedly.

"Awwww, isn't that cute," Duo grinned as he and the other three watched Wufei openly show affection for someone for the first time.

"Shut up, Maxwell," Wufei said, eyes still closed. "Just get on with it so we can all go back to having breakfast."

Duo rolled his eyes. "You are such a spoilsport."

Nevertheless he reached for the first brightly wrapped parcel, and one by one began handing them out.

Treize watched happily as the gifts were opened one by one. It felt surprisingly good to see the Gundam pilots enjoying themselves and making up for all the fun they'd missed out on when they were younger.

He especially took pleasure in seeing Wufei actively participating in said fun, even if it was mostly just teasing the others, particularly Duo. It was definitely amusing watching the two dig at each other. Apparently the others noticed the change in their friend too. No one said anything for fear of ruining the spell, but they'd never seen Wufei so happy.

He couldn't ever remember being so happy either. Since Wufei had come into the picture, life had taken on so much more meaning. He'd never before understood all those sappy, overly dramatic novels where the lovers went out of their way to be together, while logic and everyone else said they should just give up and move on.

Well, after having gotten into one such romance himself, he definitely understood them now!

Despite their origins as enemies, and all the hardships they'd endured, Treize had come to value Wufei more than anything or anyone else that had ever come into his life, and now that he'd been given a second chance, there was no way he was letting his little warrior get away from him again.

Treize smiled softly to himself as he thought of the parcel hidden in his robe. He was originally going to wait to give it to Wufei, but now he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Waiting had almost cost him his greatest treasure once. Never was he going to take that chance again, especially not when he knew without a doubt that his and Wufei's love wasn't going to change, no matter how long they were together or apart. And with that, he wanted to make certain that there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that he and Chang Wufei would never be separated in this life ever again.

"Treize, something on your mind?" Treize shook his head, noticing he'd spaced out, and everyone was looking at him. He ignored them, and instead focused instead on Wufei, who was looking at him with concern.

He smiled; just looking at the gorgeous man cuddled against him was enough to make his heart swell to bursting. Now, he just had to make that gorgeous man his.

"Fei, would you mind shifting so I can get up for a moment?" he asked.

The look on Wufei's face was the closest anyone had ever seen him come to pouting. "Do you have to?"

"Yes, I have something to give you, and I can't if you don't let me up," Treize said.

Wufei was too comfortable to want to move, but he was curious. What could Treize have possibly gotten him? There was no way he had planned this... was there?

He sat up and allowed the older man to get up, watching curiously as Treize reached into his robe, rather than leaving the room like Wufei thought he meant to.

Wufei was even more startled, when Treize Kushrenada pulled out the small box and went down on one knee in front of him.

"Four years ago, you and I made a promise to one another. I still intend to keep that promise, and as soon as it's back in living condition, I'd like you to come stay in my home with me Wufei," he began.

Wufei smiled. "You know I'd love to. But what's…"

Treize reached out a hand, and halted his love's question so he could continue. "I know we intended to do just that, and see if our love would continue to flourish outside the war when we could be open about it rather than hiding. And my thought was that we would still stick with that plan, even though it's been so long. I know we have four years of catching up to do, and I don't expect it all to go smoothly. I know some things have changed. But I want to go through that not wondering if we'll stay together, but knowing that we will. Knowing that we'll be by each other's side, and that no matter how hard times get, that we'll only grow closer."

Across the room, Quatre sniffed, choked up with the strength of the emotions he felt radiating from those two. And he had the distinct feeling he was going to need a box of tissues soon, because from what he could sense they were only going to get stronger.

"Chang Wufei, I'm asking you to accept me as a permanent part of your life; to stay with me, grow old with me, get into trouble with me," he trailed off into a laugh at Wufei's incredulous look. "Une asked me if I'd join Preventers and be your partner. If it's alright with you, I'm going to tell her yes as soon as we get back."

He took a deep breath, and then handed the box to Wufei, before he could say anything.

"Promise me that you're mine?" he asked, repeating part of what he'd said four years ago, but now with a whole new meaning to the words.

Wufei's heart almost burst out of his chest when he heard his lover speak them. Reverently raising the lid of the box, he felt the breath leave his lungs in a _whoosh_ at the sight of the ring sitting on the small green velvet cushion inside.

Excitement raced through him, as all of the vague and wild hopes and dreams that he'd thought lost forever came returned in full force an in Technicolor. He looked up to find the love of his life looking at him with undisguised hope and a trace of uncertainty.

Bright onyx eyes gazed unwaveringly into brown as Wufei slowly picked up the ring, and held it in his palm for Treize to take. This was real. Part of him wanted to ask if he was dreaming, but he refused to go there. This *had* to be real. It was just too wonderful not to be.

"I promise," he said, as Treize took the ring and turned his hand over. "But you have to promise me the same."

Treize grinned, as their words from four years ago were repeated. But this time, all the uncertainty from that dark time was gone. He took his new fiancé's left hand in his, and slipped the ring, a braid of gold, onto Wufei's slightly raised ring finger.

"I do," he returned, just as he had the first time.

Wufei couldn't stay where he was any longer, and Treize found himself falling back on his ass as his smaller love tackled him. They just sat there laughing as they embraced.

Quatre couldn't contain himself either. With all of the stress of Une calling him for help, and the horrid emotions coming from first Wufei and then Treize, and all of the worry over whether Wufei was alright or not, his Christmas had not been the best. But now that the last loose end had been tied, he felt all the negative feelings simply drain away, and the first thing on his mind to enjoy was the fiancé he'd been so unfairly forced to neglect.

He turned to Trowa. "Hey, now that they've gotten their engagement, what say we do a little disappearing of our own?"

Trowa had been riveted to the scene in front of him, shocked that in less than a day Wufei and Treize were not only a couple, but they were now engaged to boot! He really didn't know what to do with it, until he felt the tiniest little caress of a tongue on the edge of his ear.

"I- I'm sorry, Quatre. What were you saying?" he managed to tear his eyes away and look at his own lover.

"I said," Quatre purred with an evil smirk, as his hand sneaked down between his fiancé's legs. "What goes around comes around. Why don't we do a little disappearing of our own?"

Trowa couldn't have been more grateful. Hot sex and the chance to pick up where he and Quatre had left off was a much appreciated reprieve from trying to fathom Treize and Wufei tying the knot.

Getting up, he didn't even wait for Quatre to stand before he scooped him up in his arms and made a dash for the stairs.

"Congratulations, you two," he said over his shoulder, trying futilely to be polite.

"Yes, I'm so happy for you!" Quatre called, before they were on the second floor and slamming the door of their room shut.

Wufei and Treize watched them go, laughing even harder.

"Well, that's justice, I guess," Wufei grinned.

Treize heartily agreed. "Yes, I think it certainly is."

Their attention was brought back to the other two occupants of the room by the sound of Duo clearing his throat. Heero simply sat next to him, staring in stunned silence.

"Well I have to say, 'Fei I'm shocked," Duo shook his head. "Shit that was quick. Off the market and engaged in a day. Crap, that must be a record."

"I was 'off the market' long before that, Maxwell," Wufei shook his head.

Duo grinned. "Not according to the guys and gals at work, my friend. Holy smoke, are they going to hit the deck when we get back. Unless of course you plan to hide that ring of yours?"

"Hell no," Wufei scowled fiercely. "It stays."

"Are you sure this isn't moving two fast for you both?" Heero piped up, looking almost a little faint. This recent development had hit him like a sledge hammer, and his mind was fighting to keep up with it all.

Treize and Wufei shook their heads as one.

"Nope. All that time we could have had, wasted. The time we did have, nothing more than sneaking and hiding and restraining ourselves because we were on different sides, and therefore 'not supposed to be'. Well, I'm done beating around the bush," Treize clarified.

"As am I," Wufei agreed. "It was bad enough having to deal with this alone during the war, and then having to continue hiding it after because I was in too much pain to deal with any slander or abuse. I don't want to hide anymore, and if somehow it doesn't work out after four years of feeling as I do well, then the worst that happens—Nataku forbid—we call off the wedding."

"It won't happen," Treize nuzzled him.

"I know. I won't let it," Wufei leaned into him.

Well then, I for one wish you all the best of luck," Duo chirped. "And I think Heero will too, once his mind gets out of the shock phase. There's only one more thing I have to ask though."

"And what is that, Maxwell?" Wufei asked.

The former Deathsythe pilot was the picture of innocence as he replied. "Have you two really never had sex? Quatre said you two have never even kissed."

Wufei's eyes looked fit to burst out of their sockets. Treize laughed, and answered for him. "No, Duo. We kept both hands and lips to ourselves, aside from what you've seen since I came. It didn't really work all that well, but we were hoping it would make it easier for us both in case one of us were killed, and we thought it would make denying our relationship easier if we had ever been caught."

Duo laughed so hard he almost fell off the couch. "Awww! That means our little 'Fei's still a virgin!"

He barely sobered when confronted with the look of pure wrath Wufei turned on him. "Aww come one, 'Fei. I know you were never interested in Meilan enough to touch her, and considering how young you two were, I doubt continuing the bloodline was an excuse yet."

Much as he would have loved to dispute it, Wufei wasn't going to lie about something that important with his fiancé right there.

"So what, Maxwell? Am I to fault for having standards and being a traditionalist?"

"Nope," Duo chirped, as he grabbed Heero's arm and steered him off the couch, fully intending to follow Quatre and Trowa's example. "I'm just so going to enjoy the chat we'll have when you come to me asking what to do on your wedding night."

Wufei snorted. "As if I would."

Duo snorted over his shoulder as he led a still-shocked Heero to the stairs. "Here's your first lesson, Fei. Look up."

Wufei and Treize both raised their eyes to the ceiling. There in the middle, hung down from the heights on a string, was a sprig of fresh mistletoe.

"Of all the clichés," Wufei muttered, dropping his head in exasperation and shaking it.

Treize could have made any number of witty verbal responses to that, but instead settled for a more traditional one. Cupping Wufei's chin in his hand, he gently turned the smaller man's head upwards, so he could lean down and firmly press their lips together.

Momentarily stunned, it took Wufei a moment before he realized what was going on, and eagerly took part, opening his mouth so he and Treize could play and explore each other's mouths until the need for air drove them to gently and reluctantly part.

Treize smiled at the wondrous creature in his arms, a beautiful man with a wonderful personality, immense talent, fierce intelligence... and not to mention sexy as hell. And now, this amazing man was his, all his.

"I think I like this cliché," he whispered huskily.

Wufei certainly couldn't disagree, as their lips came together again for more.

**~Owari~  
**

**A/N:** Well, there you have it. My first finished fic. Finished posted fic anyway, originally on Aff and now also on FFnet. Though I still wish I had gotten to it at Christmastime, it was high time for this one to come to an end. And for those of you wanting to kill me for the lack of lemon, don't. There's still the sequel to come.

I did some cleanup and minor editing before posting this to fix certain errors that escaped me on my last edit. I have to say, I'm amazed at how far my writing's come in the five years since I wrote this, as anyone reading my current Bleach fics will appreciate. I almost edited out the ring-exchange, as now I couldn't see Treize and Wufei actually doing such a thing except at the wedding itself, but in the end I left it; just as a nostalgic reminder to myself of just how much I've improved. Hopefully it'll serve as an effective confidence-booster on the days that a current project gives me trouble and gets me down in the dumps.

To all you people who were so kind as to stick with me and to those who left reviews, I give you all huge cyber-hug, and ask that you be so kind as to let me know one last time what you think of the finale. I will respond to the signed reviews asap and tack responses to the unsigned ones onto this chapter over the weekend. And again: if you want the sequel, be sure to let me know. Otherwise I'm likely to get swept away by another fandom and forget.


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